


escape from the city and follow the sun

by annanotesxo



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Drunk Driving, Hate to Love, I suppose, M/M, Summer, Underage Drinking, a lot of swearing, harry is a bit silly, lads holiday, larry obvs, louis is very angsty, someone almost gets roofied but they're okay, sorry i had to put him in there, zayn is a terrible receptionist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-07-11 16:41:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 24,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7060744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annanotesxo/pseuds/annanotesxo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>PROMPT:</p><p>"Niall - what the fuck do you mean, you're *not* coming until Monday?"</p><p> </p><p>"Listen, Lou..." He could hear Liam laughing in the background. "Li and I missed the connecting flight and there isn't another one until Monday. Shit happens. You and Harry are just going to have to start the lads holiday without us."</p><p> </p><p>OR - the one where Niall and Liam 'miss' their flight to meet up with Louis and Harry on their lads’ holiday, leaving the two boys who don't seem to speak to one another to try and not kill each other for three whole days.</p>
            </blockquote>





	escape from the city and follow the sun

**Author's Note:**

  * For [certainshadeofred](https://archiveofourown.org/users/certainshadeofred/gifts).



> Okay, so, I have a feeling that the prompt wanted a more cannon-compliant lads’ holiday, but it didn’t say, so I decided to go with a more ‘coming of age, we just finished school and are off to uni in autumn, lets go crazy and get drunk and party’ sort of lads’ holiday. You know, like in The Inbetweeners movie.
> 
>  
> 
> Hope you all like it!
> 
>  
> 
> WARNINGS: there is underage drinking, drunk driving (no one gets hurt though), and throwing up (sorry. alcohol does that to ya).
> 
>  
> 
> Also, disclaimer, I’ve never been to Malia, but it’s like the number one spot for English teenagers to go, so that’s what I went with.
> 
>  
> 
> @footieforlouis read through this, so if there are mistakes, blame her :p

 

** BEFORE **

 

All Louis wanted was to go on a lads holiday with his two best mates. That’s all he wanted. Fly over to a hot place, go out every night, get absolutely plastered and, hopefully, get laid. Simple enough plan, right?

 

Apparently not.

 

It was probably his own fault for letting Niall plan the whole thing. That was the first mistake, at least. From there, it was just one domino falling after another, a chain reaction of things going wrong, reality becoming further and further away from the holiday he had thought up in his mind. 

 

 

 

**FRIDAY**

 

‘Niall - what the fuck do you mean, you're _not_ coming until Monday?’

 

‘Listen, Lou—‘ he could hear Liam laughing in the background, ‘Li and I missed the connecting flight and there isn't another one until Monday. Shit happens. You and Harry are just going to have to start the lads holiday without us.’

 

Before Louis even managed to choke out another syllable in reaponse, the phone beeped signalling that Niall had hung up on the other side and he was just left there, in a massive airport, watching as Harry Styles — _the_ Harry Styles that he thought he would never spend another minute with since the school year finished — looking around helplessly at the luggage belt. He had this ridiculous, way too big for the one week they were spending in Malia, suitcase with a gold and black leopard print all over it. Yes, leopard print. ALL OVER IT.

 

At least it should be easy to spot, Louis thought, but for whatever reason, it’s been almost half an hour and they were still waiting. Louis’ own suitcase was by his feet and even the inanimate object seem to be growing impatient. 

 

What was taking so long?

 

Maybe it got lost, Louis thought, maybe Harry would have to go home early, having no clothes and no belongings and all.

 

If only.

 

But no, just as soon as those words crossed his mind, the shiny, embarrassing thing slowly went around down the belt, making Harry literally jump in excitement. He absolutely beamed, seeing that thing and it made Louis roll his eyes exhaustedly.

 

He closed his eyes and rubbed at them with the heels of his hands, letting out quite a loud groan. How was he going to survive three days of this, when he only just barely survived the flight with that clueless giraffe?

 

The thing was, ever since Niall had casually informed him that Harry Styles, of all people, would be joining them on their lads’ holiday a few weeks before, Louis absolutely hated the thought. He had no clue as to why Niall thought that would be a good idea in the slightest, and when he asked, all that the blonde, Irish devil replied with was ‘he’s just having a bit of a rough time, so he could use a holiday’, as if Louis cared about what sort of time Harry Styles was having. 

 

But that was only the beginning, he found out, because not only was Harry invading their holiday, but he was going to have to spend several hours trapped alone on a plane with the guy, since Niall and Liam were supposed to be meeting them in the capital city, Heraklion, having spent the past three weeks with their families in Croatia. 

 

Good for some, having one holiday straight after another, Louis thought somewhat bitterly, even back then. They had the whole thing so neatly organised, so that their planes would arrive as close to each other as possible. 

 

And yet, it still went to shit and, from then on, it just seem to be getting worse and worse, and what he initially hated, he started to absolutely despise with his whole entire being. 

 

***

 

_Four hours earlier…_

 

‘Hey,’ a deep voice he almost didn’t recognise pulled his attention away from his phone, from which he was sending strings of profanities aimed at his Irish friend, cursing at him for making him do this.

 

‘Yeah, right, hey.’ Louis grumbled, putting his phone away into the pocket of his joggers and taking in the figure in front of him. Harry was taller than he remembered, which was proof of just how effectively he managed to avoid him, despite still attending the same school. That was actually sort of impressive, he thought to himself.

 

Just with that quick once-over though, he was already annoyed with the guy. Why? Because of course that stuck up wanker would dress like a fucking runway model — and look it too — just for a plane flight. Whereas Louis was wearing some soft grey joggers, a simple white t-shirt and sporting some serious bed-head, Harry Styles, the wonderful Harry Styles, was dressed in a half-unbuttoned white shirt (perfectly ironed!), black skinnies so tight they should be illegal, and brown boots that probably cost more than the week’s trip to a foreign country that they had ahead of them. His curly hair, which seemed to have gotten a bit longer since Louis had last paid attention to Harry’s existence, was tied up in some black head-scarf and looked effortlessly perfect, even though Louis would bet half his belongings that Harry had spent ages perfecting that casual, slightly messy look.

 

He tried not to roll his eyes and shake his head, but he just couldn’t help it.

 

‘You better not have forgotten anything,’ Louis said coldly, turning around towards the entrance of the airport and starting to walk inside without checking if Harry was even following.

 

He was though. He ran a couple of steps, catching up with Louis.

 

‘Yeah, I checked like fifteen times. Passport. Ticket. Money. Phone. Charger—‘ he started listing, but Louis interrupted him.

 

‘Yeah, whatever, I don’t need a list of all that you own.’ Louis said. That would take all day to get through, he thought bitterly — that boy was made of money.

 

‘Oh, okay.’ Harry said, slightly thrown off-course by the interruption. He then turned to Louis again, ‘So, are you looking forward to this week?’

 

Louis looked up to the deep, green eyes staring at him and, even though Harry’s expression was open and curious, he couldn’t help glaring in return.

 

‘Listen, it wasn’t my idea for you to tag along, so how about you do me a favour and not talk to me for the next few hours?’ he said, forcing his lips into the least genuine smile ever seen by man.

 

Harry stared at him wide-eyed for a couple of seconds, opening and closing his mouth hesitantly, until words actually managed to come out.

 

‘Suit yourself, I guess.’ He finally shrugged, following Louis towards the luggage check-in stations in silence.

 

 

***

 

‘Window seat. Nice.’ Harry said, lips stretching into a childlike smile, looking from his ticket to the seat numbers shown above. He pulled a book and a bottle of water out of his bag and put it in the overhead compartment, squeezing past the other seat to sit down. He looked up at Louis, who didn’t seem particularly pleased, but then again, had he looked even remotely so since they first met each other outside, in front of the airport? Nope. Still, Harry bit down on his lip in thought for a moment, before asking, ’Unless you wanna switch?’

 

Louis frowned, ‘Nah, I’m fine.’

 

He popped his bag in the space under the seat in front of him, sitting down, closing his eyes and taking in a few deep breaths. In. Out. In. Out. This would all be over soon.

 

Harry watched him for a moment, before turning to look out the window. The sky was grey and unpleasant, which wasn’t exactly surprising, and he just couldn’t wait to finally get to a place where the sun actually shined and life would be that little less dreary.

 

 

***

 

Louis kept his eyes closed all through the safety demonstrations, trying to get away from the plane and everyone on it. To his dismay, the headphones in his ears didn’t block out all of the sound around him, all the noises made by other passengers starting to really get on his nerves. 

 

Okay, maybe one passenger in particular. Harry. Harry, who he tried so hard to cut out of his life and yet there he was, in the seat beside him, and Louis could feel his presence there and it made his neck and shoulders clench with tension. He couldn’t get comfortable, couldn’t relax, with Harry there. 

 

And then Harry started humming.

 

Louis could just about explode. No one around them seemed at all bothered by Harry, but every movement that he made, made Louis’ face contort into a disgusted grimace.

 

What did he do to deserve this?

 

Harry reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a pack of chewing gum, Extra’s bubblegum flavoured teeth whitening one to be exact, popping two pieces into his mouth and starting to chew them obnoxiously. Louis watched him from the corner of his eye, growing frustrated. Thing was, that was his favourite kind of gum and, with every movement of his jaw, he felt as if Harry was taunting him, as if he knew. 

 

_He’s been humming the same fucking song for the past fifteen minutes,_ Louis thought, breathing deeply through his nose, nostrils wide. _Does he even know any other songs? Ugh, it sounds so familiar. What is it? Ah! It’s that annoying shit by the 1975. That song’s so old though. Please, like, listen to some new music._

 

Louis rolled his eyes with a bored sigh. If only he could just stop thinking about Harry Styles for a moment, except he couldn’t because of _THE HUMMING_.

 

Harry, on the other hand, didn’t seem all that concerned with anything around him, at least from what Louis could see, which frustrated him even more. There he was, just bobbing his head along to the fucking 1975, staring through the window and chewing his gum, a tumbleweed probably blowing through that empty fucking head of his.

 

But what was really happening inside Harry’s head, was more along the lines of this:

 

_Hey, now muhhmuuuhhhh uhhh_

_Uh, oh, buhghggg friends like CHOCOLATE_

_uhmm you say, “We go where nobody knows, hummghhurr PETTICOATS._

 

_No, we’bhubhhhbh, njsd,kdsl never gonna quit it, no.”_

_Now uhnn ugh nuughhnnn aksjdhhh boys in blue,_

_ohmmuhh smells like CHOCOLATE_

_Hey, now I think abuhsuus, I think ihsidiigg SAY, I kkdjspppp think_

_Pause it, play it, pause it, play it, pause it_

 

_Oh, we go where nobody knows, ughmmuuuhhh PETTICOATS_

_hnnn never gonna quit it, no, we’re never gonna quit it, NO_

_Yeah, we’re dressed in black from head to toe,_

_ughduiiooo nhhhgguh in our PETTICOATS._

 

He stopped his internal concert, closing his eyes with a grimace.

 

_Jesus, this chewing gum thing isn’t helping at all._

 

Harry sighed, a defeated frown appearing on his face, unable to concentrate on the song anymore. His ears had been blocked and ringing uncomfortably for ages now and it really fucking hurt.

 

_Ughhh, I think I might cry. Fuck. Styles, pull yourself together. You can’t cry in front of Louis Tomlinson. Especially not because your stupid ears are hurting._

 

_Come on. Think. What can you do?_

 

He started fidgeting more uncomfortably, biting down on the inside of his cheek. He was genuinely on the verge of tears. How embarrassing.

 

_I need to get out of here._ he decided and, before he knew what he was doing, he was already standing up from his seat.

 

He cleared his throat.

 

‘Um, Louis?’ He said, trying to get his attention, and getting a glare in response. ‘Can I just— get past?’ he asked, leaning on the back of his seat, standing up as much as the small space around them, limited by the overhead compartments, allowed.

 

Louis sighed, trying to turn his legs a bit to the side, so that Harry could squeeze past him. He wasn’t going to make any more effort than that.

 

Harry started shuffling past in front of him, one tiny step at a time, kicking his foot in the process and almost falling backwards onto him. Their bodies were about ten times closer to each other than Louis would like or, more accurately, find even the tiniest bit bearable.

 

_Harry Styles’ arse is right in my face. Right. In. My. Face. Why the fuck is he taking so long as well? Is he actually trying to annoy me? Jesus Christ. Harry Styles and his fucking arse._

 

Finally, Harry managed to get out, tripping over his own feet once more, and saying a quick, awkward, ‘sorry’, before quickly making his way to the toilets.

 

_Praise the heavens for a few moments of peace._ Louis just thought, closing his eyes again, hoping to get away.

 

Harry was taking quite a while, Louis noticed, starting to check the time on his phone just as the boy came out of the toilets and into view. He looked odd, eyes slightly red-rimmed, but there was no way in hell that Louis would ever ask about it. 

 

Then IT happened.

 

The horror.

 

Unlike any sane person would, instead of trying to walk past Louis with his arse in Louis’ face again, which was annoying enough, he decided to go the other way. 

 

Louis’ mouth popped open and eyes went wide, suddenly having Harry Styles’ crotch, right in his face. Like, barely a couple of inches away. 

 

Thing is, maybe there was a moment, around a year and a half ago actually, when Louis would’ve been more than happy with a scenario where Harrys’ genitals were so close to his face, but times have changed. 

 

_What the fuck is this idiot doing? What is he trying to prove exactly?_ He thought, unable to look away from how Harry’s tighter-than-should-be-legal-jeans barely contained— well— you know. 

 

_Is he trying to show off or something? “Hey, look at my giant bulge. Like, look at it!” Please, I don’t want your cock anywhere near my face. Ugh._

 

Harry awkwardly stumbled over Louis’ feet again, then, standing in the tight space in front of his seat, hesitated.

 

‘Um, seems like I made a bit of a logistical error, going in this way,’ he said with a nervous chuckle.

 

Louis replied with no more than a frown. He felt uncomfortable just watching Harry try to get his long, awkward limbs to turn in the tiny space between him and the seat in front of them. It took too long. What was he even feeling right now? Louis wondered. It felt like more pity than frustration. How could this guy act so weird and make even the simplest tasks so fucking difficult? Wasn’t he supposed to be one of the ‘cool kids’ or whatever?

 

‘Ugh,’ Harry finally grunted in relief, dropping himself back onto his seat. He smiled, turning towards Louis, as if he was about to make some joke, but was met with only another cold stare. He must’ve decided against saying anything and just cleared his throat awkwardly and looked away.

 

He popped two new pieces of chewing gum into his mouth, before turning to Louis.

 

‘Would you like some?’ he asked him, lifting up the packet in his direction. His words were muffled by his chewing.

 

Louis glared at the packet. He did want some. But, long ago, he had decided that he never wanted anything from Harry Styles ever again, so he shook his head. Maybe it was petty, but he had his reasons.

 

‘Nah, I’m fine.’ he said with a tight, ostensibly fake smile.

 

‘Suit yourself.’ Harry just shrugged, sliding the packet back into the pocket of his jeans. 

 

And so, the rest of the flight was spent in theoretical silence, theoretical because no words were exchanged between the two, but the humming, courtesy of Harry Styles, prevented it from being true silence.

 

Somehow, Louis survived.

 

***

 

_Now…_

 

_‘Li and I missed the connecting flight and there isn't another one until Monday. Shit happens. You and Harry are just going to have to start the lads holiday without us.’_

 

Niall’s voice kept replaying in Louis’ head, along with the giggles in the background of the call, the words ‘fucking wanker’ and ‘I’m gonna kill them’, mixed in there as well. It kept Louis’ burning frustration continue with every step. 

 

It took two bus rides, one taxi and almost all of Louis’ sanity, but finally, the two of them were standing in front of a big hotel. It was hot, early afternoon and Louis was begging all the gods in the universe to just let him get in and into a cold shower.

 

‘Place looks good. Can’t believe Niall actually managed to organise something decent.’ he said, staring up at the building with a content sigh.

 

‘Yeah,’ Harry smiled, ‘Can’t wait to get in there and take a nice, long shower. Could really use it after that flight.’

 

‘For once, I agree with you.’ Louis said with a small laugh.

 

Except, it seemed that they had spoken too soon and, to their distress, it turned out that they would have quite the wait still ahead of them. Dominoes falling and all…

 

‘Hello,’ Louis said, leaning over the high desk in front of him. There was a man with a neat haircut and an immaculate uniform sat behind it. ‘We would like to check in. Our names are Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles.’

 

‘Welcome to Malia, I will check our system right away and give you your key cards.’ The man said the clearly rehearsed line with a nod, turning to the computer screen beside him. ‘Okay, can you spell your surname for me, please?’

 

’T-o-m-l-i-n-s-o-n’ Louis replied, leaning in closer as if that would make his words easier to understand.

 

‘Hm,’ the man said after a moment. It didn’t sound promising. ‘I see your room reservations were made by a Mr Horan?’

 

‘Yes,’ Louis nodded slowly, already getting a bad feeling.

 

‘And is Mr. Horan with you today?’ 

 

‘No, he missed a connecting flight and won’t be here until Monday.’ Louis said, adding a ‘the fucking wanker’ in his head.

 

‘I see. Unfortunately, we need the person who made the booking present with their ID and the bank card they had used, before we can hand out room key cards. It’s our policy,’ he informed them.

 

A few seconds of tense silence passed as the words sunk in.

 

‘Are you saying that we can’t get into our rooms?’ Louis asked, his heart starting to beat faster, stress levels rising. _Please say no. Please say no. Please say I misunderstood._ His internal voice begged helplessly.

 

‘I’m afraid so.’ the man said, his expression slightly more sympathetic, seeing Louis’ panicked expression.

 

No. No. No. This was not what he needed. This was all wrong.

 

‘Um, I’m sure there must be _something_ , we could do,’ Harry said, voice much more level than Louis’ as he stepped forward from where he was standing a couple of steps away. ‘Maybe if we call our friend, the one whose name it is all in, he could clear all of this up?’

 

‘That won’t be possible, I’m afraid.’ the man shook his head, ‘Our policy is very strict about this.’

 

‘Please, we have been travelling for so long,’ Harry said, putting on this exaggeratedly desperate voice and a worn out expression, ‘are you sure there is nothing we could figure out?’

 

Louis turned to look at him, eyebrows rising slightly in surprise. That sly, manipulative little — well, not little, more like stupidly tall — shit. He was slightly impressed, also, but he would never admit that. Of course Harry would go with the guilt tripping and be so goddamn good at it. He _is_ a manipulative bastard and liar after all.

 

The man behind the desk sighed and, Harry’s spell clearly working on him, seemed to think it over.

 

‘I’m really sorry sirs, there’s really nothing I can do,’ he said with a sympathetic frown.

 

Harry dropped his shoulders in defeat, now looking genuinely disheartened.

 

‘So, what do you suggest we do?’ he asked, biting down on his lip nervously.

 

‘Well, I could book you in for two new rooms, but you would have to pay upfront, since it’s last minute. Maybe, once your friend arrives, we could give you a partial refund, but this is all I can do for you right now.’ 

 

‘Um,’ Harry hesitated for a moment, turning towards Louis, unsure, ‘Can you do that?’

 

‘I can’t afford another three days in this place.’ Louis shook his head worriedly, then, bitterly, added, ‘I know it might be easy for _some_ , but not all of us can just whip out a couple hundred pounds.’

 

Harry looked at him, his expression saddening.

 

‘I can’t afford it either,’ he said, biting down on his lip and looking down to the floor.

 

Louis snorted, looking at him with amused disbelief.

 

‘What are you on about? You’re, like, the most loaded person I know.’ he said, raising his eyebrows challengingly.

 

‘My dad cut me off. Like, completely.’ He replied quietly, with a small shrug.

 

‘Oh wow. _Seriously?_ That’s just perfect.’ Louis laughed as if that was the best thing he had heard in his life, ‘And, do tell, what did the golden boy do to deserve such a fate?’

 

Harry looked up at him, looking tiny.

 

‘Came out.’

 

Well, shit.

 

Louis insides had never dropped so fast. He didn’t expect that. Well, he knew that Harry was into guys — first hand, even — and that his father was a dick, but he didn’t expect _this_.

 

‘Fuck. That’s awful.’ he said, his tone turning sympathetic instantly — and genuinely so. ‘No one deserves that. I’m sorry.’

 

‘Right,’ Harry snorted, ‘as if you care.’

 

‘Hey,’ Louis replied, with a frown, ‘I might be a dick to you generally, sure, but I’m being serious here. This fucking sucks, he shouldn’t have done that. That’s vile.’

 

Harry nodded absently, ‘yup.’

 

They stood there in uncomfortable silence for a moment, the desk clerk watching them from the short distance, which didn’t help, before Louis smiled and walked up to Harry, putting a hand on his shoulder.

 

‘Hey,’ he said, making Harry look up, ‘guess you get to see how the other half lives now, eh?’

 

That resulted in a small chuckle.

 

‘I still hate you though.’ he added, his usual glare returning, removing his hand. ‘Nothing’s changed.’

 

‘Yeah, I assumed so.’ Harry replied, with a tiny laugh.

 

‘Good. Glad we understand each other.’ Louis nodded decisively.

 

A moment of them just looking at each other had passed, the atmosphere between them returning to usual.

 

‘So what do we do now?’ Harry sighed, looking at Louis, helplessly.

 

‘Guess we’ll just have to find somewhere else to stay.’ 

 

 

***

 

 

‘Well,’ Louis said, scrunching up his face uncomfortably, ‘this looks a bit shit.’

 

After a quick google-search that the desk clerk of the previous hotel helped them to do, out of pity more than anything, they found a place within their price-range, and it sure was underwhelming. It wasn’t quite as bad as the shit-hole in _The Inbetweeners_ movie, but it still sucked compared to the one they were supposed to be staying at.

 

The place was about half the size and it was clearly quite old, considering the grey outside walls, that were clearly not that colour when the place was first built. The hedges and fake palm trees surrounding the place were unkept and messy and there was this worn out gazebo standing there, lamely in between them. The front door was propped open by a two-feet tall statue of Jesus, which was either some sort of message about welcoming the Lord into your life, or just someone finding the thing and thinking ‘what the hell, this will do’ and putting it there as a makeshift doorstop. Louis wondered if that would be considered blasphemous or not. Probably.

 

‘Maybe it’s better inside.’ Harry said, biting down on his lip, unsure.

 

‘Lets not get too hopeful,’ Louis replied dryly. He was _so_ over with this day and the shit-stain of a friend that Niall was. Sure, he generally loved the lad, but having walked the mile and a half from the first hotel to this one, too cheap to pay for another taxi, he was sweaty and annoyed and could really just use a shower, and it was all Niall’s fault. So, yeah, right now, Niall was definitely his number one most hated person.

 

Maybe apart from Harry Styles, who was now looking at him with wide, concerned eyes, clearly waiting for him to make the first move.

 

Louis replied bitterly, starting to walk towards the building, ‘Well, we don’t have any other choice.’

 

Harry followed him quietly.

 

The inside wasn’t _too_ bad. It was old and worn down and the carpets on the floor really had seen better days, but apart from that, it was bearable. The only major issue was how stuffy the air felt. The small, pathetic-looking fan that was placed on the desk, was doing nothing but spreading the warm air around the place and Louis felt like he could hardly breathe.

 

He walked to the front desk with a disgusted frown, his distaste so clear on his face that it could probably have been seen from Mars.

 

The guy at the desk didn’t even bother looking up, until Louis could no longer take it and cleared his throat.

 

The dark haired, young man looked up lazily from whatever book he was reading, chewing his gumobnoxiously and blinking at them slowly with his long as fuck, beautiful eyelashes, clearly not giving much of a shit about their arrival. He was sitting there on a spinny chair, with his feet propped up on the desk, flip-flops hanging off his feet as he bounced them absentmindedly. His loose shorts and vest top looked the furthest possible from the smart, professional clothing that the receptionist at the first hotel had.

 

‘Yeah?’ the guy said, raising his eyebrows expectantly, as if that was enough of a greeting for potential customers. He _did_ drop the book on the desk and removed his feet from it, sitting down properly on the chair though. 

 

‘Um, we’d like to book a room.’ Louis said.

 

The guy nodded, opening up a big binder in which details of hotel guests seemed to be scribbled down.

 

Shit, did this place not even have a computer? Louis thought, slightly panicking.

 

The man scanned the page with his eyes.

 

‘You paying per day or hourly?’ the guy asked in a strong Bradford accent, which was surprising, not bothering to take his eyes of the page to look up at them, which _wasn’t_ surprising at all.

 

‘Obviously per day, what are you even fucking suggesting?’ Louis snapped. There was usually one implication of what paying hourly for a hotel room meant. ‘Obviously we’re coming for a few days, do you not see our bags?’

 

The guy looked up at him bored, then shrugged.

 

‘Whatever, mate.’

 

Louis was about to say more, but then he felt a hand on his shoulder.

 

‘Don’t bother, Lou,’ Harry said softly, tenderly even. There was only one time before that when he called him that and Louis hated that night with his entire being, so, instead of calming him down, it did the exact opposite.

 

‘Don’t call me that.’ he snapped coldly, looking at Harry with narrowed eyes and shaking Harry’s hand off. He then turned back to the guy, ‘Can we get a move on, then?’

 

‘Right,’ the guy nodded with a little snort, observing the two with slight judgement. There was now a glint of something else in his eyes, something more than just disinterest and, with the tiniest of smirks, he asked, ‘you want a couples room, yeah?’

 

‘You what mate?’ Louis turned to him, his face looking like he was about to explode. 

 

Fearing that the other boy might jump over the desk and rip the receptionist to shreds like some sort of wild animal, Harry intervened, stepping in front of Louis and taking over the conversation.

 

‘Hey, listen, we’re a bit tired, we had a shitty day, can we just book a room, please?’ Harry said, much more politely, adding, ‘with  **_TWO_ ** beds.’

 

‘Suit yourself,’ the guy shrugged, the smirk not leaving his face. ‘How many days?’

 

‘Three,’ Harry replied simply.

 

‘All right,’ the guy replied, nodding along, eyes still on the paper, ‘yeah, there’s a room I can give ya.’

 

‘Perfect.’ Harry beamed, while Louis stood behind him, arms crossed, mumbling angrily to himself.

 

The guy started writing something down, before picking out a piece of paper and sliding it across the desk, along with a pen.

 

‘Fill this out.’ he said, ‘our card reader is broken, so if you need to, go to the shop round the corner to pay the money out.’

 

‘Of course it is.’ Louis shook his head.

 

Harry turned to him with a sigh.

 

‘How much will it be?’ Harry asked, keeping his polite tone.

 

‘€25 each, per night.’

 

‘Okay,’ Harry nodded, ‘Hey, Lou—‘ he said, quickly correcting himself, ‘shit, sorry, _Louis_. Could you go and pay the money out and I’ll do this?’ he added, gesturing to the form on the desk.

 

‘Yeah, whatever.’ Louis said, walking out without sparing either of the other two another glance.

 

‘Well, he’s in a mood,’ the guy snorted.

 

‘He’s having a bad day.’ Harry sighed sadly,‘We were supposed to be staying somewhere else, but our two mates missed their connecting flight and the booking was in one of their names. Plus, he _really_ doesn’t like me, so he’s not too happy to be stuck with me.’

 

‘That sucks man,’ the guy said, but his tone was still mostly disinterested.

 

‘Yeah,’ Harry said, biting down on his lip slightly, before turning to the guy again, ‘and, not to be rude, but you’re sort of not helping.’

 

‘Listen, it’s mostly just me here and the job does get a bit boring, so I can’t really be bothered with people giving me attitude.’

 

‘How come you work here then?’ Harry asked with a frown.

 

‘Money for uni and all. Got a room and food for free, so—‘ he shrugged.

 

‘And the owners don’t care about the way you treat the guests?’ Harry asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.

 

‘Well, I speak five languages and am good with numbers, so they actually think I’m a godsend.’

 

Harry raised an eyebrow, clearly not buying it, ‘right.’

 

‘You don’t have to believe me,’ the other just shrugged, unbothered by Harry’s reaction, ‘but, lets face it, it’s not my people skills.’

 

‘Okay then,’ Harry said. Not really knowing how else to reply, he looked at the form with a concentrated frown.

 

When he finally finished filling it in, and the only thing he still needed was Louis’ signature, he decided that he might as well keep talking to the guy as he waited for Louis to come back.

 

‘So, what’s your name?’ He asked casually.

 

‘Zayn.’ the other said, not even sparing him a glance.

 

Harry nodded.

 

‘And you’re here for the whole summer?’ 

 

‘Yeah,’ Zayn nodded with a yawn. He really didn’t care about the conversation, it was clear, but Harry kept talking, curious.

 

‘So, what do you study?’

 

‘English Literature.’

 

‘Really?’ Harry raised his eyebrows curiously, ‘that sounds interesting. What year are you in?’

 

‘About to start my third,’ he said, then, scrunching up his face slightly uncomfortably continued, ‘listen, mate, can we stop with the twenty questions? I just really can’t be bothered to give you my life story.’

 

‘Oh, okay,’ Harry deflated slightly, but that’s when he heard Louis clear his throat, snapping him out of the conversation — if you could call it that. He was standing in the doorway and Harry wasn’t sure how long he had been there.

 

‘Here,’ Louis said, dropping the banknotes on the desk harshly. ‘now, can we get a move on?’

 

‘Sure,’ Zayn said, before counting the money, then, reaching to a cabinet under the desk to pull out one, single key, with a big keyring saying 28, he added a lazy, ‘there you go.’

 

‘Just one key?’ Louis asked, frowning.

 

Zayn nodded.

 

Louis snatched the key from him, saying the most dishonest, ‘ _thank you’_ that a human could manage, before turning around and storming off up the stairs, dragging his suitcase with him.

 

‘Thanks, mate,’ Harry said, with a small smile, quickly following Louis as the boy rushed away.

 

‘Yeah, whatever,’ Zayn said, with a dismissive wave of the hand, picking up his book again and putting up his feet on the desk.

 

As soon as the two walked into their room, Louis turned around so abruptly that Harry bumped into him and then had to take an awkward step back, confused.

 

‘What the hell were you just doing? Making friends with that twat? Really?’ Louis hissed, then put on a low, awed voice, mocking Harry, ‘ _oh, what are you studying? Oh that’s so interesting. Oh, tell me more._ Do you fancy him or something? He was an absolute dick to us.’

 

’No, I— I wasn’t even thinking anything like that—‘ Harry said, stumbling over his words slightly, Then, with a little, shy shrug, added, ‘I think it’s always better to be nice to people. They tend to be nicer to you then.’

 

‘It’s his fucking job to be nice to us, we don’t owe him anything.’ Louis replied coldly.

 

Harry didn’t want to argue with Louis, so he just sighed defeatedly, ‘Maybe we should just rest for a while and try to forget about everything. We can still have a good weekend.’

 

‘Yeah, right.’ Louis replied sarcastically, ‘as if it’s that easy.’

 

There was a pause, before Harry shook his head with scorn.

 

‘For fucks sake, can you not just _try_?’ Harry said, raising his voice for the first time that day. It was the first time that he actually looked angry, even though so many things have already gone askew, and it sent a shiver down Louis’ back.

 

‘Um,’ he cleared his throat, almost startled. That look on Harry, the eyebrows drawn together and the set jaw and the low, booming voice, were actually quite scary. He felt like a bit of a dick and decided to just settle on saying a ‘yeah, whatever’ and finally shutting up. Truthfully, Harry _was_ right, the constant complaining wouldn’t exactly make things any better.

 

Alcohol might, though.

 

‘You up for going out tonight?’ Louis asked after a while of standing there in tense silence.

 

‘It’s what we’re here for, right?’ Harry replied flatly, then walked further into the room, opening up his leopard print suitcase and starting to dig through it silently. After pulling out a large towel and a toiletries bag, he said, ’I’m gonna take a shower now,’ and walked into the sorry excuse of an ensuite, closing the door without another word.

 

Louis felt sort of bad because of how cold Harry’s tone was. _He_ did that. _He_ made Harry that upset.

 

Then he shook the thoughts out of his head with distaste. He couldn’t let himself forget what Harry Styles was really like, so he shut his eyes tightly, repeating the words that he always did whenever he felt anything other than dislike towards the guy.

 

_Harry Styles is a manipulative bastard who likes to play with people’s feelings for his own sick amusement. He is a liar and you can’t trust him. He is a liar andyou can’t trust him._

 

 

_***_

 

Louis didn’t know what to do with himself. Not wanting to just stand around, listening to the shower that Harry was currently humming _the same fucking 1975 song_ again, he decided to unpack some of his stuff. However, after taking out his towel and some clothes to change into for later that night, he already lost all the motivation to do anything beyond that. 

 

Exhausted, he lay down on the bed that Harry hadn’t put his suitcase onto, and tried to just close his eyes and think about nothing at all. It was easier said than done.

 

He started thinking about the next three days and how he was going to survive them. He looked around the room, which was small and a bit stuffy like the rest of the place, the furniture worn with age, but, despite all that, quite homely and clean. The bed that he dropped himself onto lethargically wasn’t too uncomfortable. It _did_ feel strangely small though, smaller than a single bed at least. Yeah, it wasn’t a great room, but it was bearable.

 

His company, however… he wasn’t so sure about.

 

The shower switching off and the doors to the ensuite opening, dragged him back to reality.

 

‘The water pressure is awful,’ Harry said monotonously, walking into the room, ‘it feels like someone is pissing on you.’

 

‘Oh,’ Louis just replied. Harry was still dripping with water, with the towel wrapped loosely around his hips.

 

Yeah, this was going to be pretty difficult.

 

***

 

_31st January, a year and a half earlier…_

 

_The thing was, Louis wasn’t really friends with Harry. He didn’t know him. Harry was Niall’s friend and it was Niall that told him to come along to Harry’s house party. He wasn’t particularly hard to convince, though. The whole thing sounded like it would be quite fun and even started off as such… Louis had no clue that it would turn into the worst night of his life._

 

‘ _Okay, just remember, the theme is cliche American teen movies,’ Niall said over the phone. His words were muffled and broken up by loud sloppy noises, so Louis guessed that his friend had him on speakerphone while shovelling some sort of food into his mouth._

 

_‘What does that even mean?’ Louis frowned._

 

_‘You, know,’ Niall said, swallowing, ‘like, varsity jackets, cheerleader’s outfits— stuff like that. Like, stereotypical american high school crap.’_

 

_‘Okay,’ Louis sighed, ‘I guess I can come up with something.’_

 

_‘Great!’ Niall said cheerfully, ‘it’s gonna be fun. Harry really wanted you to come.’_

 

_‘He did?’ Louis asked, confused, ‘I don’t even know him that well.’_

 

_‘Well, he asked me to invite you,’ Niall said simply, ‘it would be really cool if you guys were friends. We could all hang out then.’_

 

_‘Yeah, all right.’ he replied casually, ‘sounds good to me.’_

 

_***_

 

_Niall’s brother dropped the two of them off at Harry’s house. It was on the outskirts of town and pretty hard to get to, since no buses really went into that neighbourhood, because no one there would ever need one, being loaded as fuck._

 

_It was a massive place, as Louis had expected it to be from what he had heard about it from other people. Harry’s father was some sort of big shot businessman, so the building, which was more of a mansion than a house, wasn’t exactly surprising. It was, however, still pretty breathtaking. Louis couldn’t believe he was there._

 

_‘And his parents are just okay with him having all these people over?’ Louis asked Niall. He had been asking questions like that, about the party and Harry himself, throughout the whole ride over._

 

_‘Well, his parents are divorced. Mum is somewhere overseas and his dad’s not home much. He’s always either working or on some business trips or having sleepovers with secretaries in expensive hotels,’ Niall shrugged, as if the last part wasn’t a bit too private to share, ‘I think he’s in Manchester tonight, but won’t be coming back for the next few days.’_

 

_‘Oh, okay,’ Louis said._

 

_‘I’m so happy that you agreed to come along,’ Niall said, giving him a friendly punch to the shoulder, ‘lets face it, we won’t be getting that many chances to get drunk off our faces —_ and for free ** _!_** _’_

 

**_***_ **

 

_’Hey, I’ll go find Harry,’ Niall said, determined, ‘I’ll get us some drinks too.’_

 

_‘Why—‘ Louis started to ask, but Niall already hurried away before he got a chance to finish his question. Under his breath, he mumbled, ‘don’t I just come with you?’_

 

_He stood by the staircase, awkwardly nodding along to the music until Niall reappeared, holding two red cups._

 

_‘Take these,’ he said, handing both of them to him. Louis took them, but before he got the chance to ask anything, Niall continued, ‘Harry’s room is upstairs, to the left and the I’m pretty sure the door is open, so you’ll be able to tell which one it is.’_

 

_Seeing that Niall was turning around and about walk off again, Louis quickly called after him._

 

_‘Um,’ he scrunched up his face, ‘why am I taking these to Harry’s room?’_

 

_Niall sighed, rolling his eyes at him, as if it was all very obvious, ‘just go and get to know him. You’ll get along, I promise you.’_

 

_‘O-okay?’ Louis said, frowning confusedly, before following Niall’s instructions slowly._

 

_And so, he found himself standing alone in the room of a boy he had spoken maybe a handful of times before that night, holding two cups, not knowing what to do with himself. He shuffled slowly around the room, looking at books and video game boxes and posters of classic rock bands like the Rolling Stones or KISS, hoping to get a better sense of who exactly he would be meeting._

 

_He was still concentrating on exploring the room in silence, when the unexpected sound of a little ‘click’ of the door behind him being shut made him snap around with slight surprise._

 

_He had only seen him around school or with Niall, but he recognised the curly haired boy right away. Harry Styles was standing there, with his back pressed against the door, hands hidden behind him, lightly biting down on his lip. He looked slightly nervous and flushed, but smiled widely._

 

_‘Hi,’ he said, his voice was deep but quiet._

 

_‘Hi,’ Louis replied with a little chuckle, because it all felt a little bit strange. Raising one of the drinks in his hands towards Harry, he said, ‘I’m guessing this is for you?’_

 

_‘Oh, yeah, thank you,’ Harry smiled, pushing himself away from the door and walking towards Louis._

 

_‘No problem,’ he replied, watching the boy._

 

_Their fingers touched lightly as the cup was exchanged and the boy let out the tiniest little gasp of surprise, before taking a step back and looking up from the drink in his hand to Louis’ eyes._

 

_‘I like your outfit,’ he said with a little laugh, ‘not quite what I expected from the theme, but I guess it’s very fitting.’_

 

_‘Hey, can’t get more cliche high school movie than this,’ Louis replied, doing a little spin, pretending to show off his outfit as if it was something extremely elaborate or high-class. It really wasn't._

 

_Whereas, Harry was wearing a green and white varsity jacket with a large ‘H’ stitched onto it, which was clearly custom made just for the occasion, Louis went in a very different direction. He was wearing a much, much too small and very, very pink, ‘High School Musical’ t-shirt that he had stolen from one of his little sisters. It clung to him tightly and was way too short, showing off some of the tanned skin of his navel. It was so tiny it might as well have been called a crop top._

 

_‘Very literal.’ Harry laughed, looking at the exposed skin intently, before turning back up at Louis, ‘I love it. I don’t think I’d ever be brave enough to wear something like that. I’d worry about what people would think too much.’_

 

_‘Well,’ Louis shrugged, ‘If how I look really bothers anyone that much, then they should re-evaluate their priorities in life, because, really, what does it matter to them what I do or look like, right? It’s none of their business. It’s not their life.’_

 

_Harry nodded along to what he was saying, watching him almost reverently._

 

_‘You’re amazing, you know?’ he said shyly after a moment of quiet thought, ‘the way that you’re not scared to be yourself. It’s really impressive.’_

 

_‘Oh, I don’t know about that—‘ Louis chuckled, blushing slightly._

 

_‘You_ are, _’ Harry insisted, the words pouring out of him quickly, ‘amazing and brave and lovely and gorgeous.’_

 

_Louis was absolutely speechless. No one had ever said anything like that to him before._

 

_‘Just—‘ Harry sighed, seeming full of awe, ‘a great person.’_

 

_‘Wow,’ Louis sighed, feeling rather overwhelmed. He was biting down on his lip, trying to hold back exactly how emotional the words that Harry, the boy who he had barely even spoken to before, were making him. He was fighting back both a massive grin and tears. Finally, he managed a, ‘thank you, Harry. So much.’_

 

_Harry beamed at him, ‘I mean it.’_

 

_Looking at his genuine expression, Louis smiled back and a comfortable, sweet silence fell around them. For a moment, Louis thought that this boy, Harry Styles, might just be his favourite person in the world._

 

 

_***_

 

_Now…_

 

When Louis got out of the shower, Harry was just in the process of buttoning up a black shirt with a white paisley pattern all over. He stopped halfway up, so that most of his chest was visible. And, yeah, it sure looked hot.

 

Louis rolled his eyes. What an attention whore.

 

‘How do I look?’ Harry asked, biting down on his lip with eyebrows raised inquisitively, just as Louis stopped in front of his bed, picking up his own, casual white v-neck and jeans to put on.

 

‘Like a high-end prostitute,’ Louis snorted.

 

Harry looked slightly thrown by the comment.

 

‘Um— is that good or bad?’ he asked with a confused frown.

 

‘ _Please_ ,’ Louis rolled his eyes with a scoff, ‘you’re perfectly aware of how good you look, stop fishing for compliments.’

 

‘Really?’ Harry said, immediately perking up, his dimples showing as a small, pleased grin appeared on his face.

 

‘Yeah,’ Louis said with a grimace. What? He wasn’t going to lie, but still, giving Harry a compliment and feeding his already inflated ego didn’t exactly make him too happy.

 

‘It’s pretty much my only pulling-shirt,’ Harry chuckled. Then his expression fell. With a disheartened sigh, he added, ‘It’s the only Saint Laurent shirt I’ve got left.’

 

‘Harry Styles getting rid of his prized collection of ridiculously patterned shirts?’ Louis said with exaggerated disbelief. Everyone at school knew that Harry sure loved his odd designer shirts. He’d been wearing nothing but, for the last few months of school. ‘Must be armageddon or something.’

 

Harry let out a small, defeated laugh.

 

‘Nah, just broke, aren’t I? They’re the only thing I managed to grab from my house when my dad was kicking me out.’ he explained, ‘that’s why Niall has all my money, you know? Dad took all of my cards, so anything I made from selling the shirts, had to go on his.’

 

‘That sucks,’ Louis said, thinking through all that new information.

 

‘Yep,’ Harry replied with a shrug.

 

_Shit, stop feeling bad for the guy. His dad sucks, so what? He’s still a lying, manipulative bastard, remember?_

 

Feeling the need to change the subject, Louis quickly asked,

 

‘How are you planning to go out and buy yourself drinks, if you have no money?’ he asked, raising his eyebrow questioningly.

 

‘Please, don’t be daft, _I_ don’t buy myself drinks,’ Harry snickered in response, smirking, ‘people buy _me_ drinks.’

 

And there he was. Conceited, self-obsessed little shit.

 

‘Because you’re just _that_ irresistible, aren’t you?’ Louis said, rolling his eyes. ‘You’re so full of yourself, aren’t you?’

 

‘Well, what can I say?’ Harry shrugged with a smug smile, ‘people just find me charming.’

 

‘Of course they do,’ Louis rolled his eyes, grabbing his clothes and walking off to the ensuite to get changed. He didn’t need to be listening to Harry Styles boasting about how much of a catch he is anymore.

 

***

 

The thing was, the place wasn’t too bad, but Louis still wasn’t enjoying it too much. It probably had something to do with the fact that, instead of getting plastered and owning the dance floor, he was stood out of the way, by a pretty much deserted wall, with a cheap pint in his hand, and glaring at Harry, who was at the bar being chatted up by two older guys. Well, they were probably in their twenties, so not _that_ old, but still much older than they were.

 

He sighed with some distaste, before taking another gulp of his drink. He didn’t even like beer that much.

 

_Sexyback_ was playing, so Louis supposed they must have been having some throwback dance party theme going on tonight. The remix of it was pretty decent and the lights were a cool mixture of pinks and blues and greens, flashing on the smoked up dance floor.

 

Some guy walked up to him at one point, trying to chat him up, but apparently Louis was such bad conversation, that the guy walked off after a few minutes without even saying goodbye. Louis didn’t really care. His eyes were on Harry and he hated the fact.

 

He hated the fact the Harry was there, leaning on the bar, grinning and laughing along to some joke that the shorter of the two men was telling him. He was flirting so blatantly, that it was almost uncomfortable to watch. Something about it really pissed Louis off. The fucker was right, the guys were _all over him._

 

The shorter guy waved over the barman and listed off an order of drinks. He kept Harry’s attention as the man poured the drinks, leaning in closer and whispering something that Harry was definitely laughing way too hard at.

 

At the same time, while Harry was plenty distracted by the shorter man’s chatter, the other, taller one, leaned over the drinks, grabbing something from the pocket of his jeans. It seemed like a tiny bag of _something._

 

Louis’ eyes narrowed as he tried to make out if he was actually seeing what he thought he was seeing.

 

When he saw a couple small, white tablets being dropped into the pretty pink drink that was meant for Harry, Louis’ frown turned from annoyed to furious, eyes widening as he realised what the two were doing.

 

‘OH HELL NO,’ he said, literally seeing red. He didn’t think that was actually possible, but his whole body started tingling as he pushed past people, not caring about their irritated glances. ‘Don’t you fucking dare.’

 

Harry was just about to lift the drink to his lips, when Louis got there, knocking the glass out of his hand violently. It flew out of Harry’s hand, the liquid spilling all over the shorter guys’ jeans and the glass smashing into pieces on the floor.

 

‘What the fuck?’ Harry asked incredulously, turning to Louis. 

 

Louis paid Harry’s frowning, shocked face no attention as he turned to the two men.

 

‘You fucking scum, what is wrong with you?!’ he spat out, pushing the guy forcefully back, so that he stumbled into the other one, ‘I should beat your faces in!’

 

But the bar staff was clearly about to step in and throw all of them out, so, instead, he grabbed Harry by the wrist, saying ‘we’re getting out of here,’ before forcefully dragging him out of the club.

 

Harry didn’t fight Louis as he speed-walked down the street, until they were quite a bit away from the club. Once Louis finally stopped, letting go of him and breathing deeply, clearly trying to calm himself down, Harry spoke up.

 

‘What the fuck is wrong with you?’ he asked, glaring at him, ’I was just chatting to these guys. Are you really _that_ petty that you can’t even let anyone else have fun, just because you’re not?’

 

‘Harry.’ Louis lifted his hand up, sighing sadly, but Harry didn’t give him a chance to explain, just continued with his rant.

 

‘Why are you so set on ruining this weekend for me?’ he asked with a groan, ‘can you really not get over something that happened over a _year_ ago?’

 

That comment stung, there was no way that Louis could deny that, but he still tried to remain calm. This wasn’t about that.

 

‘Harry,’ he tried to cut in again, but Harry went on.

 

‘What is your damage, seriously, why—‘

 

‘Harry!’ he finally shouted, shutting the curly haired boy up. Gravely, he explained. ’they were gonna roofie you.’

 

‘What?’ Harry asked, freezing in place.

 

‘The short prick was distracting you, while the other put something into your drink.’ he said, his frown sympathetic now. Worried even, seeing as Harry’s whole being seemed to completely deflate, shrink, shatter, until he looked like nothing but a small, scared child.

 

‘Oh my god.’ Harry said, sitting down on the curb. He pulled his knees close and hid his face in his hands. He was curled over, looking absolutely broken, ‘Oh my god.’

 

Louis sat next to him and, completely forgetting about any bad feelings between them for the moment, placed his hand on Harry’s back reassuringly.

 

‘Fuck. I’m so _stupid_.’ Harry said, shaking his head with disbelief, looking sick.

 

‘No, you’re not stupid,’ Louis shook his head, lightly, ‘maybe a little bit naive, but not stupid.’

 

‘Ha,’ Harry laughed bitterly, ‘ _naive_ , as if that’s any better. I’m such an idiot.’

 

‘Harry—‘

 

‘Fuck,’ Harry choked out, ‘I could’ve been raped. They could’ve really hurt me.’

 

Louis knew that, and the idea made him feel sick, almost as sick as Harry looked right then — he looked like he was about to turn away and completely empty his stomach.

 

‘Yeah,’ Louis agreed with a sad sigh, not going to sugar coat things, but, quickly and decisively added, ‘but they didn’t. You’re fine. You’re safe.’

 

Harry looked up at him for the first time, his eyes red rimmed and wide like a wild, terrified animal’s, ‘I don’t feel like it.’

 

Louis pulled him closer, squeezing him into his side, slightly surprised that Harry let him to that. He rubbed his shoulder softly.

 

‘You’re going to be okay, I promise,’ he said, ‘I’ll make sure of it.’

 

Harry eased into the embrace, but whimpered out a couple short sobs.

 

‘I’m sorry,’ Harry said, his voice wobbly, ‘I’m sorry I ruined your night and shouted at you and—‘

 

‘Hey, shh,’ Louis said softly, ‘not your fault. You didn’t ruin anything. Them fucking cunts did. None of this is your fault, okay?’

 

‘Mhmm,’ Harry nodded, not sounding that convinced.

 

‘Hey,’ Louis said, nudging him lightly. Harry looked up with sad, questioning eyes. Louis smiled softly, ‘how about we head back to the hotel and forget all about this?’

 

‘I don’t think I can.’ Harry said, his face looking absolutely despaired.

 

‘How about we try anyway?’ Louis asked, giving him another encouraging squeeze.

 

Harry nodded sadly, before letting himself be lifted off the ground by Louis and led to their hotel room.

 

***

 

They got a couple strange looks, walking down the streets for what felt like forever, with Harry tucked into Louis’ side. The two of them really must have looked a mess, since even Zayn looked up from his desk as they came through the hotel door with a slightly questioning look.

 

Louis sent a halfhearted smile in his direction, before leading Harry up the stairs.

 

They got ready for bed in silence. It felt heavy and tense.

 

‘You okay?’ Louis asked once they were both in their beds.

 

‘Yeah,’ Harry said, not at all convincingly. He was wrapped up in the thin duvet, facing away from Louis.

 

‘Okay,’ he replied nonetheless, then turned off the single bedside lamp that was placed on a cabinet in between their beds.

 

Louis was restless. This felt wrong, and he was right to feel that way, because not long after the lights were off, he heard little stifled whimpers coming from Harry’s bed. Louis could hear his uneven breathing and, in the near darkness, could just about make out the other boy shaking.

 

Shit, he thought. He had no idea what to do. He felt this intense urge to comfort the guy and, even though a part of him wanted to pretend like the only reason for doing so was simply because he knew that if Harry didn’t stop making the noise, then he would not be able to fall asleep, Louis knew there was more to it. He just couldn’t bare Harry being so upset. Regardless of the past between them, no one deserved something like that to happen to them. No one deserved to be scared about their safety.

 

But what could he do?

 

‘Hey,’ he said in a whisper, ‘Harry.’

 

Harry ignored him for a while, before letting out a small cough and saying a weak, ‘yeah?’

 

‘Are you okay?’ Louis asked, even though it was completely redundant. Harry wasn’t okay.

 

‘Yeah,’ Harry lied anyway.

 

Louis remained quiet for a moment, before speaking again.

 

‘Harry,’ he said in another whisper.

 

‘Yeah?’

 

‘Come here.’

 

‘What?’ Harry asked, confused, turning around to face him.

 

‘Come here.’ Louis repeated, looking at him expectantly. He had lifted the duvet that he was under, exposing the little bit of mattress beside him that was unoccupied. It was a completely ridiculous idea, partly because he generally couldn’t stand spending time around Harry, or so he repeatedly claimed at least, and more importantly, because of how tiny these beds were.

 

Still, it was the only thing he could come up with.

 

‘I— uhm,’ Harry hesitated, frowning, ‘are you sure?’

 

Louis sighed, rolling his eyes.

 

‘Yes, just get in here,’ he said impatiently.

 

‘Okay,’ Harry whispered, before biting down on his lip and scrambling himself out of his bed and into Louis.

 

Louis dropped the covers around them, then wrapped his arm around Harry’s side, pulling him in closer.

 

‘Cuddles.’ he said.

 

‘Cuddles?’

 

‘Yes,’ Louis nodded, ‘you’ve had a shitty day and, at the Tomlinsons' house, if you have a shitty day, you get cuddles, so here—‘ he said, softly squeezing him against himself again, ‘cuddles.’

 

‘Oh,’ Harry said softly, ‘okay.’

 

‘You’re safe, okay?’ Louis said, ‘you don’t have to worry about anything.’

 

Harry’s breath hitched in his throat at the determination in Louis’ voice.

 

It took him a while to reply.

 

‘Thank you.’ he whispered.

 

‘It’s really okay, Harry.’

 

‘You didn’t have to do that.’ 

 

‘Of course I did!’ Louis exclaimed loudly. Too loudly, really, because it made Harry jump.

 

‘Why though?’ Harry asked solemnly after he settled down again, ‘I thought you hated me.’

 

‘Fuck, Harry, I might not like you, but I’m not a monster.’ Louis replied instantly. He couldn’t believe the mere idea that Harry could ever think that Louis hated him to such an extent, that he would wish something so vile to happen to him. Was that really the impression that he gave off? Was he really that much of a dick to the guy? He frowned, adding with conviction, ‘I wouldn’t just let someone hurt you like that.’

 

Harry nodded, seeming to accept the answer.

 

‘You’re right, you’re not. You’re like the opposite of that. You’re wonderful.’ Harry said, it was so heartfelt, ’You’re always saving me.’

 

Now, Louis didn’t know how to answer. So, apparently, Harry still considered him a good person _despite_ the way that he had been treating him? Even Louis could admit that, sometimes, he took his hatred too far and could be more than a little bit unfair. But he had his reasons.

 

After a while of them lying there in silence, in an even softer, more self-conscious tone, Harry added, ‘I wish I never got into that car.’

 

Louis stiffened. 

 

_I wish I never went to that party_ , he thought coldly, remembering the night again. But he didn’t say that. It wasn’t the time.

 

‘It’s okay, Harry,’ he said softly instead, ‘don’t worry about that right now. Just go to sleep.’

 

‘Okay,’ Harry said, voice weak and raspy. ‘Goodnight, Louis.’

 

‘Goodnight,’ Louis sighed lightly.

 

Louis was confused. He had gone through so many different emotions during that short conversation. Firstly, he realised that maybe he was being too harsh on Harry sometimes. Secondly, he realised that despite that fact, Harry still saw him in a positive light. Apparently. And thirdly, to his dismay, that he actually did really care about Harry’s feelings.

 

He frowned. This wasn’t good. He couldn’t feel like that towards Harry. He couldn’t let himself forgive him.

 

_Harry Styles is a manipulative bastard who likes to play with people’s feelings for his own sick amusement. He is a liar and you can’t trust him._

 

He repeated the words in his head several times, reminding himself.

 

The problem was that the words didn’t seem as convincing at that moment, with Harry pressed into him, all small and vulnerable, even though he was actually the taller of the two. How was it possible that _this_ Harry was the awful person that Louis was trying to stay away from for so long? It just seemed hard to believe.

 

That was the problem though, he had been fooled by Harry before, he had thought that Harry was sweet and nice and cute, but he was wrong back then, betrayed and hurt, so what was so different now?

 

Nothing.

 

He couldn’t forget that.

 

So, again, he repeated.

 

_Harry Styles is a manipulative bastard who likes to play with people’s feelings for his own sick amusement. He is a liar and you can’t trust him._

 

Louis sighed, _He is a liar and you can't trust him._

 

That was the last thought on his mind before falling asleep.

 

 

 

***

**SATURDAY**

 

 

Light was barely entering through the closed curtains, when loud music woke both of the boys up with a jolt, making them tumble off the small bed.

 

_WAKE ME UP_

_WAKE ME UP INSIDE_

_CAN’T WAKE UP_

_WAKE ME UP INSIDE_

 

‘Fuck,’ Louis said in pain, having hit his elbow uncomfortably on the hard floor.

 

‘Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry,’ Harry repeated over and over with urgency, as he scrambled himself off the floor and started quickly searching for his phone.

 

‘What the hell, Harry?’ Louis snapped, frowning.

 

‘Sorry, this was my alarm to wake up for our flight,’ Harry said, still digging through his stuff.

 

‘Bring me to life? Really?’

 

‘I thought it was funny and it was the only thing that would actually, definitely wake me up.’

 

‘Yeah, with a heart attack. Geez, this is _SO LOUD_ ,’ Louis whined, covering his ears with his hands dramatically.

 

‘I know, I’m sorry.’ Harry said, shuffling about, ‘I must have accidentally made it repeat everyday or something.’

 

‘Ugh,’ Louis groaned, rubbing at his eyes. ‘It’s okay, you can stop apologising. Just turn it off, _please_.’

 

‘Ah-ha!’ Harry exclaimed, sounding extremely pleased, his phone in hand.

 

The music stopped and Louis finally braved opening his eyes again.

 

He was thankful that the room was still pretty dark, he didn’t think he could manage both being woken by a loud, harsh song _and_ being blinded by sunlight.

 

‘So, um,’ Harry hesitated, ‘do you want to go back to bed or—‘

 

‘What time is it?’

 

‘Six am.’

 

‘For fucks sake, Harry.’ Louis whined, ‘of course I want to go back to bed.’

 

‘Oh,’

 

‘Oh?’

 

‘Well, there’s this hiking trail going through the woods, just outside of town and I was really hoping to check it out. It’s supposed to be really beautiful. What do you think?’

 

‘You want to go on a hike?’ Louis stared at Harry with narrowed eyes. He might as well have suggested a trip to the moon.

 

‘Well, more of a long walk, really. It’s not a particularly difficult trail.’ Harry added quickly, gesticulating a lot.

 

‘Did you hit your head falling off the bed?’

 

‘No, I just figured, that maybe it would be a good time, since we might not get a chance once Niall comes, because he obviously can’t walk that far with his messed up knee, you know?’ Harry explained, his eyes full of hope.

 

Obviously, Louis hated the idea.

 

‘Why do I have to come? Can’t you just go on your own?’ Louis asked, but that seemed to hit a nerve and Harry looked down at the floor with a sad shrug, clearly disheartened.

 

Then Louis realised it. Harry was probably still freaked out by the night before and didn’t want to be walking around alone.

 

Louis sighed, long and loud. It was a sigh of defeat. He didn’t want that sad frown to stay on Harry’s face any longer. He knew that the boy really needed cheering up after the the night before, and Louis wasn’t going to be a dick and deprive him of something that he was clearly excited about.

 

‘Okay,’ he said, making Harry look up with surprise, ‘okay, I’ll come with you, but I need more sleep, Harry.’

 

‘Yay,’ the boy grinned and it looked like a hundred suns suddenly decided to come out, shining brightly. 

 

‘Wake me up at ten,’ Louis said, climbing back into bed, wrapping himself completely in the duvet. He shut his eyes forcefully.

 

After a moment of trying to go back to sleep, he sensed a person standing by the bed.

 

‘Louis,’ he heard Harry whisper quietly. ‘Can I—‘

 

Without bothering to open his eyes, he lifted the duvet, making space for Harry to join him, which Harry did, eagerly. 

 

Louis couldn’t help but smile lightly as Harry settled himself beside him. He put an arm around the taller boy’s torso, pulling him closer. 

 

It wasn’t a big deal. It didn’t mean that he liked him or anything, he told himself. Harry needed the comfort, and he was just being a decent person, taking care of someone who had a shitty thing happen to them and needed someone there, helping them. It wasn’t at all because he just liked the closeness and the feeling of Harry’s warm, soft skin against his own. No big deal.

 

***

 

‘It smells so wonderful here,’ Harry said, ‘don’t you love it?’

 

Louis just grumbled in response. He could already feel the muscles in his legs complaining and his Vans were starting to soak through because, despite the hot weather, the trail was quite damp, hidden in the shadow of the tall trees in the woods.

 

And then there was Harry, grinning and looking completely ridiculous. He was wearing his tight skinny jeans and brown boots, with a black, loose t-shirt. It was one of those t-shirts with cut out sides, showing off the bare skin over his ribs any time that Harry lifted his arms — and, yeah, it looked absolutely breathtaking on him, which Louis despised. His look was topped off with a fucking fedora hat on top of his wonderful curls.

 

And Louis was bored. Absolutely bored.

 

Harry was walking around with this massive camera that he brought with him and was stopping constantly, marvelling at how light would come through the trees, making the most amazing patterns everywhere. It was sort of annoying. Very annoying, actually. When Louis agreed to this “hike”, he didn’t realise it would take _so long_ and that all that he would be doing is following Harry around at a snail’s pace.

 

Out of nowhere, Harry turned to Louis, snapping a quick picture.

 

‘Oi,’ Louis frowned, ‘what was that?’

 

‘Sorry,’ Harry chuckled, biting down on his lip lightly, ‘you just looked really good.’

 

‘What?’ Louis scoffed with a slight frown.

 

Harry looked down at the display of his camera, nodding.

 

‘Really good.’ he smiled.

 

Louis scoffed.

 

‘No, really.’ Harry said, nodding. ‘Actually, do you mind if I take some more?’

 

‘You want to take photos of me?’ Louis raised an eyebrow, narrowing his eyes slightly, because what? Why?

 

‘If you don’t mind. You really do look great with all this green around you.’ Harry said, gesturing around them vaguely.

 

‘Yeah, all right.’ Louis said after a moment of hesitation, swayed by Harry’s hopeful stare, not actually really knowing why he was agreeing at all. Fidgeting with slight awkwardness, he asked, ‘Do I, um, have to do anything?’

 

‘No, not at all. Just be yourself.’ Harry smiled, then walked up to him softly, raising his hand to Louis face. Louis froze while Harry touched his forehead softly, rubbing his thumb over the space between his eyebrows, seeming to try to smoothen out the crease that was between them, ‘and relax a bit. The frown doesn’t suit you.’

 

Louis cleared his throat, his voice coming out much more strained than he would have liked as he said a simple, ‘okay.’

 

***

 

Louis was enjoying himself, he couldn’t deny that. Although, at first, the whole photo-taking ordeal was quite awkward and strained, with Louis walking around uncomfortably while Harry snapped pictures in silence, it soon turned to them messing around and genuinely having a fun time. Louis would stop dramatically, pulling ridiculous faces and poses and Harry would laugh, taking as many photos as possible to document the cute crinkles forming by Louis’ eyes when he smiled widely. They climbed large rocks that were scattered here and there, and ran around, hiding from each other between the trees. 

 

Later, Louis would blame it on the lovely sun and fresh air. Because he was forgetting again. Forgetting what sort of person Harry _really_ was. 

 

Or maybe he’s changed, he wondered. It _had_ been a long time since they interacted, since Harry showed him his true, messed up self. Except no, he couldn’t let himself believe that. 

 

_Harry Styles is a liar. You can’t trust him_.

 

So he stopped running around, partly because of that reminder, and partly because it had gotten ridiculously hot over the past couple of hours while afternoon came upon them — the messing around obviously didn’t help. They had just come out of the shelter of trees and the sunshine was beating down on them ruthlessly.

 

‘Listen, I gotta get back to somewhere air conditioned, because I feel like I’m in a sweat lounge right now,’ Louis said, his mouth sticky as he spoke. They had just ran out of water too.

 

‘Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,’ Harry said, rubbing away beads of sweat which had appeared on his face too. And no wonder! ‘Wearing all black probably wasn’t my wisest decision.’

 

Louis snorted, ‘yeah, no shit Mr Runway.’

 

‘Jesus, I like clothes, get over it, Mr Judgey,’ Harry rolled his eyes.

 

‘Wow, what a burn, I’m so offended,’ Louis laughed.

 

‘Wasn’t trying to offend you,’ Harry just said, then, perking up, cheered, ‘we should get ice-cream! I’m dying to eat something cold.’

 

Louis was unable to stop a little laugh, seeing the child-like joy in Harry.

 

‘Yeah, alright,’ he said. It did actually sound like quite a good idea. He could use a treat to distract him from the way that his sweat-soaked t-shirt was sticking to his back and the thought of resting his feet after hours of walking was also a pleasant thought. So, sure, he agreed, because why not?

 

 

***

 

It wasn’t a good idea.

 

‘Harry, that’s _way_ too much ice cream for that one cone.’ Louis said, frowning. It was actually making him quite nervous, watching the scoops piled up onto the small wafer cone. They had managed to find a little ice cream stand almost right outside of the end of the trail, and they just got their orders — cold, little pieces of tasty heaven.

 

‘Oh, come on,’ Harry said, rolling his eyes, ‘don’t be a party pooper. They all just look _so good_. I couldn’t pick.’

 

‘Okay then,’ Louis sighed, shaking his head. Harry was looking more and more like the cute boy that he met all that time ago and Louis didn’t know quite what to think about that.

 

And then, unsurprisingly, Harry’s ice-cream started melting all over his hands, just like Louis knew it would, because that’s the sort of stupid behaviour that he had learned one could expect from Harry Styles. He was acting like a toddler, and Louis should’ve probably mock him, he would’ve, if the whole thing didn’t look so _obscene_ , and Harry seemed completely oblivious to it, despite the fact that Louis was pretty much _hypnotised_ by it.

 

Harry was currently licking off the trail of melted ice-cream off his hand painfully slowly. It went almost as far as his elbow and he stuck out his tongue, running down his arm, trying to get i all, getting it all over his mouth and chin in the process. The boy really did have a talent at making the slightest tasks look extremely difficult, but also, in a way, really, really hot.

 

Louis tried to shake _those_ thoughts away as he cringed at the scene in front of him, but it was proving difficult. Especially since he knew what those sweet, plump lips felt like on his own.

 

 

*******

 

_31st of January, a year and a half ago…_

 

_Harry was staring at him, but somehow it wasn’t uncomfortable or awkward as it maybe should’ve been, considering they were pretty much strangers. It was somehow nice, in a way._

 

_‘Can I ask you something?’ Harry said suddenly, eyes big and hopeful._

 

_‘Um,’ Louis hesitated, a bit confused, then smiled, ‘sure.’_

 

_Harry quickly crossed the couple of steps between them, catching Louis’ wrist in his own, before lightly pulling him to the bed and sitting both of them down on the edge of it. Louis looked at him, slightly surprised._

 

_‘I mean,’ Harry started talking, his voice had an urgency to it. He was fidgeting nervously and his whole face was lit up by a deep pink blush, ‘it’s okay if you don’t want to, I just— as I said, I think you’re really cool and—‘_

 

_Louis chuckled at his clearly flustered expression. It was cute._

 

_‘What is it, Harry?’ he asked, looking at the boy with amusement._

 

_Harry cleared his throat, pausing for a moment, before the words came out of his mouth quietly, but determinedly._

 

_‘Can I kiss you?’_

 

_Louis’ eyebrows shot up in surprise. He wasn’t really expecting that. Maybe he should’ve, since the whole thing did suddenly seem like Niall playing match-maker and setting the two up, but it was still a surprise. Truthfully, he didn’t actually think that he would be kissing any boys until university, because, lets face it, he lived in a small town and it was really slim pickings when it came to boys generally, let alone_ gay _boys who might be the tiniest bit interested in him._

 

_And Harry was cute. Like, really, really cute. He had these lovely curls and a wonderful smile and big, green eyes staring at him, full of hope._

 

_‘Sure,’ he said, subconsciously licking his lips._

 

_‘Yeah?’ Harry almost jumped, his eyebrows shooting upwards in gleeful surprise. Louis couldn’t believe that someone could ever look so excited about the prospect of kissing_ him _, but here was Harry Styles, grinning at him eagerly._

 

_Harry took a big gulp of his drink quickly, then put it on a bedside cabinet behind him, before turning back around to Louis. He took a big breath, in and out, before moving closer. It was Louis that closed the small distance between them though._

 

_Wow, he thought, because Harry’s lips were probably the softest, most amazing things he had ever come into contact with._

 

_But, to his surprise, their lips barely touched, gone way too soon, when Harry broke their kiss apart, pulling away, and giggled. GIGGLED. It was possibly the sweetest sound that Louis had ever heard in his life._

 

_‘I can’t believe I just did that,’ Harry said, hiding a grin behind his hand. ‘I can’t believe I just kissed_ a boy!’

 

_Louis chest ached with how sweet that surprised little expression of his was._

 

_‘You sure did,’ he said, unable to hold back a smile too._

 

_Harry, suddenly turning quiet again, like it was all some sort of exciting secret, asked._

 

_‘Can I, um— can we do it again?’_

 

_‘Yeah,’ Louis nodded. ‘Definitely.’_

 

_Harry was looking at him warmly, lifting his hand slowly to his face, barely touching his cheek with the pads of his fingers at first, before cupping his cheek and moving in closer. At first, it was all very hesitant and delicate, but both soon grew in confidence, and Louis moved closer to Harry, hands now getting lost in his wild, soft curls._

 

_And Louis would always remember how sweet Harry’s mouth tasted — like rum and coke — and how he couldn’t believe a kiss could feel so good. It had never felt like that with a girl, which, yeah, he knew was going to be the case by now, but_ still _, he couldn’t help that feeling of absolute awe that was filling him. He wished that he could keep kissing Harry Styles until the end of his days._

 

***

 

_NOW…_

 

‘Jesus Christ, Harry,’ Louis said, shaking his head, face scrunched up awkwardly, ‘how is it possible for you to make such a mess? You’re not three years old. I can’t look at this anymore—’

 

Louis stood up from his seat opposite Harry, quickly grabbing some napkins from the holder in the middle of the table. He scooted his metal chair closer to Harry’s as the boy watched him with slight bewilderment.

 

‘Come here—‘ Louis said, leaning in closer to Harry with a determined look in his eyes. For a moment, Harry just stared at him with a confused frown, before leaning in hesitantly, letting Louis do his work. Louis started wiping the ice-cream off Harry’s face with almost reverent precision, while Harry stared at the concentration in his blue eyes, saying nothing.

 

‘Ugh, you’re a bit sticky,’ Louis said with a grimace, throwing the used napkins onto the small metal table that they were sat at. He turned back to Harry, ‘you don’t happen to have some wet wipes in that massive bag of yours, do you?’

 

‘I do actually,’ he replied.

 

‘Oh,’ Louis said, moving back a bit, ‘that’s good then. Useful.’

 

‘Yeah, I might be a mess, but at least I’m prepared,’ Harry chuckled, he was looking at Louis with quite the similar absorption as he had been watched with. The silence that fell between them felt thick and loaded. 

 

And then Harry was leaning in closer and closer, looking at Louis’ neck with concentration.

 

‘Um, what are you doing?’ Louis asked, pulling back, his heart rate picking up.

 

‘It’s just—‘ Harry said, absently, still moving closer in towards Louis’ neck with a small frown, ‘I think you’ve got something on your shoulder there.’

 

‘What? What do you mean?’ Louis said, instantly panicky.

 

‘Like—‘ Harry said, still staring, ‘can I move your shirt?’

 

‘Yeah, yeah,’ Louis said urgently, ‘just tell me what it is.’

 

Harry’s fingers traced lightly over Louis’ collarbone, as he pulled the fabric down.

 

‘Oh, it’s moving,’ he noted matter-of-factly, completely calm.

 

‘What do you mean it’s moving? What is it?’ Louis asked, his voice raising in both pitch and volume as he started fidgeting more.

 

‘I think it’s a tick.’

 

‘What?’ Louis’ eyes widened with dread.

 

‘Yeah, pretty sure it’s a tick. It’s only tiny though, no big deal,’ Harry said with a smile that was simultaneously reassuring and amused at Louis’ terrified expression. ‘We can probably just get it out with some tweezers. I’ve got some back in our room.’

 

‘No big deal?’ Louis exclaimed, outraged, ‘what do you mean “no big deal”? I have a bloodsucking, disgusting, dirty demon servant on me! And it’s ALIVE, digging into my skin! It’s feeding off me Harry, it’s FEEDING OFF ME. Oh my god.’

 

Harry was now biting down on his lip, fighting a laugh with great difficulty.

 

‘Afraid of creepy-crawlies, are we?’

 

‘I’m not AFRAID, I just have common sense! They’ve got, like, diseases in them!’ Louis exclaimed, he was waving his arms around dramatically and started causing quite a scene, ‘and no, we can’t just get it out with tweezers! You’ve got to be kidding me! Do you know what happens if a part of it stays in you? Their little heads keep drilling into you until they get into your brain and infect it with fuck knows what! They eat your brain, Harry!’

 

‘Um,’ Harry raised his eyebrow sceptically, ‘I don’t think that actually happens, Louis. You will be fine, I promise. My cousin had one once and he was okay. I can get it out for you.’

 

‘YOU?’ Louis’ eyes widened, even more outraged, ‘oh, no. You’re not touching me. We’re gonna go to a doctor. I’m not getting this beast digging into me and eating my brain. Oh no.’

 

‘Okay,’ Harry nodded, raising his hands in defeat, ‘we’ll go to a doctor, if you want. Just calm down and lets get out of here, okay.’

 

Louis looked around them then, noticing a few eyes following them judgementally. He nodded in agreement unenthusiastically, so Harry picked up his backpack, putting it on with an ‘umf,’ and started leading the way back to the hotel.

 

‘Calm down, right, sure—‘ Louis started mumbling to himself bitterly, but, otherwise, just followed Harry without complaint.

 

When they got back to the hotel, Harry walked straight up to the desk, addressing Zayn. 

 

‘Hey mate, how are you?’ he asked, making the dark-haired boy look up from a book he was reading. It was a different one from the day before, yet he already seemed to be halfway through it. And the thing was _long_.

 

‘There’s no time for chatting, Harry!’ Louis exclaimed impatiently.

 

Harry chuckled quietly, before turning back to Zayn again.

 

‘Do you know if there’s an A&E or any sort of doctor around here that could remove a tick? One got stuck on Louis when we were walking in the woods and he’s panicking.’

 

‘Just use some tweezers, mate.’ Zayn replied, voice disinterested.

 

‘We will not “JUST USE SOME TWEEZERS”’ Louis exclaimed, clearly about to go on a rant, before Harry quickly cut in.

 

‘Listen, he’s really freaking out.’ Harry said calmly, his voice more concerned and pleading, ‘do you know somewhere we could go?’

 

Zayn sighed as if it was all way too much effort for him, then sat up straighter to speak to them.

 

‘Yeah, there’s a little medical centre not too far, about fifteen minutes walk, they should be able to sort you out. Check there first. If not, you can always take a taxi to the hospital or something, but you’ll be waiting for _hours_ there. Just saying, probably not worth it.’

 

‘Okay,’ Harry said, smiling gratefully, ‘how do we get to that medical centre then?’

 

***

 

‘He’s a little bit nervous,’ Harry explained with a small laugh, while Louis fidgeted in the tall doctor’s chair, frowning uneasily. Harry wasn’t trying mock Louis, of course, just poke fun at him a little to make the atmosphere a bit lighter.

 

Still, Louis glared at him.

 

‘That’s okay,’ the young nurse said with a strong accent, ‘but there is really no need to worry. I will just use tweezers for this. I’d freeze it if it were bigger, but I don’t think there is a need for that.’

 

‘That’s what I said, but he wouldn’t let me touch him!’ Harry laughed, eliciting a polite smile from the woman.

 

‘Well, you were right. It really is no big deal, we get those quite a lot since people walk around the woods so much, sitting down in the grass — the things just fall and latch onto you,’ she kept talking, trying to ease Louis’ tension, ‘I can start whenever you’re ready. You can take your shirt off, if you want, so I get better access.’

 

Louis slowly took off his shirt as instructed, then looked up at her with an unsure frown. He turned to Harry with a similar, worried expression.

 

‘You’ll be fine,’ Harry responded quietly, with a soft smile, ‘I could hold your hand if you want?’

 

It was a joke, of course, but Louis sighed sadly and lifted his hand towards him anyway. After just a second of surprise, Harry took it, squeezing it lightly in his own. 

 

Harry’s hand felt large and strong wrapped around Louis’, which really _was_ reassuring. It felt like an anchor, keeping him from harm — even if the harm at said moment was a tiny, little bug — and Louis really did feel safe.

 

They looked at each other silently for a moment, before the silence was broken by the nurse’s warm voice.

 

‘All done.’

 

‘Really?’ Louis spun around, eyebrows raised in surprise.

 

‘Yes, you are now completely tick-free,’ she smiled at him, ‘I’ll just rub it with some alcohol to make sure it’s all clean and then you’re free to go.’

 

Louis sighed with such relief, that it was almost comical.

 

‘Please don’t tell anyone that I freaked out like this,’ he said urgently, eyes darting back to Harry’s again. 

 

‘I won’t.’ he chuckled softly in response, but it was obvious that he meant it. He held on to Louis’ hand still, his grip sure and warm, seeming to have just as much of a hold on Louis’ eyes as he had on it.

 

They didn’t separate until the nurse spoke again.

 

‘There we go,’ she said, throwing out the little cotton ball that she used to clean Louis’ shoulder and her latex gloves in a nearby bin. Clasping her hands together, she announced, ‘well, this is it! You can put your shirt back on and go back to having fun on your holiday.’

 

Louis cleared his throat awkwardly and, realising that he was still staring at Harry and holding his hand for what would, by then, probably be considered a bit longer than normal, pulled it away quickly.

 

Harry let him do so easily, but still kept his eyes on the boy while Louis got dressed and off the doctor’s chair.

 

‘Thank you, miss,’ Louis said, just before leaving.

 

‘Yes, thank you,’ Harry added, nodding insistently.

 

‘Really no problem boys, have a nice holiday,’ the nurse replied, ushering them out of the room, then closing the door behind them.

 

‘Well,’ Louis said, as they made their way out of the building, ‘I think I’ve had enough adventure for now. Or moving in general, quite honestly.’

 

‘Yeah,’ Harry nodded, ‘lets grab something to eat and head back to the hotel?’

 

‘Yes! That sounds great actually,’ Louis replied enthusiastically, with his tone turning slightly desperate as he added, ‘I’m absolutely _starving_.’

 

***

 

After walking for just a few minutes, they quickly decided on a cheap place where the pizzas not only looked pretty edible, but also went up to size XXXL, which sounded like heaven to their painfully empty stomachs.

 

‘If gluttony really is a sin, then this pizza is definitely dragging me straight to hell,’ Louis said, while chewing one of the ridiculously large slices, because _obviously_ they went for the biggest pizza available, half out of curiosity and half out of quickly intensifying hunger. Louis’ lips and fingertips were greasy from the melted cheese, as he spoke between bites, ‘ _god_ , I must look worse than Niall right now.’

 

‘Not quite, but close,’ Harry chuckled, not looking much better, ‘hey, we’ve been walking all day _and_ the sun makes you way hungrier anyway. I think this gluttonous feast is perfectly justified and should not be held against us.’

 

‘Yes, it’s the fresh air and the sun, it’s not us being disgusting,’ Louis nodded decisively, before they both burst out laughing. ‘Speaking of Niall, the fucker’s still not answering my calls. It _must_ be on purpose. Unless, they somehow lost all of their chargers — _and brains_ — when they “missed” that connecting flight, I don’t see why he’d not be answering.’

 

‘You think he’s doing this on purpose?’ Harry asked, raising his eyebrows curiously, dipping his pizza in some garlic sauce. ‘Why?’

 

‘Because I don’t like you and he likes torturing me,’ Louis said with an irritated shake of the head.

 

‘Oh,’ Harry said, looking down and biting his lip. He suddenly looked eerily like a kicked puppy, ‘and here I was thinking that he actually wanted me to come along and hang out with you guys. I thought we could all be friends, even.’

 

He sounded so sad suddenly, so genuine, that it made Louis completely stop in his tracks.

 

‘No, I mean, he _does_ want you to be here, but I just don’t think that any of this was an accident. I think he’s playing us.’ 

 

‘Oh,’ Harry nodded, looking more confused than anything now, ‘and do you think we can?’

 

‘Can what?’

 

‘Get along.’

 

‘I don’t know,’ Louis squirmed a bit. He would be lying if he said that he wasn’t warming up to Harry, but he still kept reminding himself that he _shouldn’t._

 

_He’s a liar and you can’t trust him. He’s a liar. You can’t trust him._

 

‘Listen, I know you’ve been through a lot of shit because of me, but I’m really sorry about all of that and I really _do_ hope we could move past it.’ Harry said, ‘I mean, clearly Niall thinks we can, if what you think is true.’

 

If only it was that easy, Louis thought.

 

‘Maybe,’ he just answered with a shrug. More and more, he felt like he didn’t actually _want to_ be mad at Harry, wanted to think that maybe the boy had changed since his seventeenth birthday, but he wasn’t sure about that, so he couldn’t just move on and forgive him. 

 

However, he was quickly learning, that hating Harry was quite exhausting, really, and that didn’t help his situation.

 

 

***

 

Out of the many things that Niall had promised them would happen on their lads holiday, from getting absolutely wankered to hooking up with hot strangers to waking up on the beach after partying all night, what Louis was doing now was definitely not any of _that_. He definitely was not supposed to be talking to the lazy-ass, annoying receptionist at 9pm on a Saturday night, asking for _boardgames_. No, this was like some strange dream or alternate universe. 

 

Zayn only lifted one judgemental eyebrow at him, before nodding in the direction of the back of the hotel and saying, ‘there’s a little common room down there. There might be something, I don’t know. We don’t get many kids around here.’

 

‘Right, great,’ Louis said with a sour, tight-lipped smile.

 

‘Yeah, knock yourself out,’ the other replied, leaning back in his spinny chair and picking up a book. 

 

He really should’ve made Harry do this part, instead of forcing himself into this interaction. This Zayn guy just pissed him off, and now here he was implying that Louis was slow or childish or something. Fuck him. It wasn’t any of his business anyway, what he did in his own time.

 

But it wasn't really about Louis, either. It was all about Harry. Strange, slightly goofy Harry who apparently had a thing for Scrabble, so they decided to skip going out tonight, opting for a night of games and drinks at the hotel, instead. Louis had suggested it actually, just because he could tell that Harry didn’t want to even bring up the topic of going out again. He was still freaked out, it was glaringly obvious. 

 

So, Louis took it upon himself to take that problem off him and suggest an alternative himself. Then, over and over, took it upon himself to insist that, _yes_ , he was fine with staying in and, _yes_ , boardgames sounded like fun. Even though those weren’t complete truths. 

 

But it was all gonna be bearable once some alcohol had been ingested, right?

 

And that was Harry’s task, to get some booze, and Louis was very pleasantly surprised when, once he walked into their room with a dark green Scrabble box tucked under his arm, he saw him there with a few plastic bags popped onto one of the beds.

 

Instead of a ‘hello,’ Harry grabbed two large bottles out of one of the bags, lifting them up in the air, and, with eyebrows raised inquisitively, said, ‘cheap wine?’

 

Louis snorted.

 

‘Classy.’

 

‘Hey, it’s the cheapest way to get drunk,’ Harry shrugged with a little, dimple-showing smirk.

 

‘That, it is.’ Louis nodded, chuckling, as he walked further into the room. ‘Well, I got this bad boy,’ he said, showing off the box in his hands as if it was some game-show prize.

 

‘Oh, nice!’ Harry grinned with genuine enthusiasm.

 

‘Yeah,’ Louis said, unable to hold back a smile. It was very difficult not to smile and be endeared by Harry when he got like this, all excited and smiley. In a more enticing, mysterious tone, he continued, ‘So, I was thinking—‘

 

‘Yeah?’ Harry looked up at him with wide, focused eyes.

 

‘How about—‘ Louis spoke slowly, dragging it out, knowing how to make something sound way more interesting that it would ever be, ‘how about, the winner gets to eat the left-over pizza for breakfast, while the loser has to go get that soggy cereal that they have down in the dining hall at arse-crack of morning?’

 

Harry laughed happily, then extended a hand in front of Louis for him to shake, ‘you’re on.’

 

 

***

 

They got very drunk and ended up sharing that pizza though. The wine that they had might have been the most vile thing to ever touch their lips, but they braved through it and got completely off their face. They were not going to be defeated by it, was their drunken reasoning.

 

At 2am, they ended up sharing the pizza, both suddenly starving, having forgotten the game long before. They chatted about films and hot actors and exchanged Niall stories and Louis had fun. 

 

Somehow, in their drunken state, they had also decided to rearrange the room and drag their two beds together, so that Harry could still have a snuggle, without endangering both of them with falling to the floor. It seemed perfectly reasonable at the time.

 

At 5am, Louis got woken up by the sound of Harry throwing up that very pizza in their ensuite, and then he remembered that anything that involved Harry, fun as it might have been at the time, would turn to shit sooner or later. He tried to ignore the retching, not feeling so great himself, and closed his eyes shut, pretending to still be asleep. Eventually, Harry stopped and came back to bed, weakly climbing in next to Louis. 

 

***

 

_January 31st/February 1st, a year and a half earlier…_

 

_When they finally broke apart, both of them just stared at each other, somewhat surprised. They had only just met and yet everything seemed to just_ fit _._

 

_‘Um,’ Harry said, clearing his throat, ‘do you want to hang out for a while?’_

 

_‘Sure,’ Louis said, smiling at him reassuringly, because the boy seemed all nervous again, ‘sounds like fun.’_

 

_And it was. They chatted for ages, Harry giving Louis a little tour of his room and talking about all the bands and films that he liked, pointing out each one on his shelves. It was lovely watching the boy be so excited and happy and Louis would have been perfectly content with just staying there, learning more about him until Niall finally found them and told him they had to leave, which would hopefully be much, much later._

 

_But that’s not how it went down, because somewhere in the middle of talking about_ The Script _, Harry seemed to lose interest in the topic and his eyes brightened in excitement as he got a sudden idea, the idea that would later drive them into the worst trouble of their lives — literally._

 

_‘Do you want to see something really cool?’ Harry asked eagerly, biting down on his lip as he waited for the answer._

 

_‘Um, okay?’ Louis replied with a chuckle at his expression._

 

_‘Awesome!’ Harry said, taking hold of Louis’ hand in his, which actually felt_ really _nice, and starting to lead him out of the room. Suddenly he stopped, as if remembering something, ‘wait, it might be a little cold down there.’ he said, then started shuffling the varsity jacket he had on off himself, before turning back to Louis, ‘here, wear this.’_

 

_Louis raised his eyebrows, amused, ‘really?’_

 

_Harry just nodded, so, okay._

 

_Louis put on the jacket, suddenly being engulfed in the warmth left inside it by Harry’s body heat._

 

_‘Gosh, I feel like I’m on a date,’ he laughed, wrapping himself tighter in the jacket._

 

_That made Harry suddenly perk up, looking at him with wide eyes._

 

_‘Would you like that?’ he asked._

 

_After just a second’s thought, Louis smiled softly,_

 

_‘Yeah, that would be nice.’_

 

_‘This is the best night ever!’ Harry cheered, then grabbed Louis’ hand, ‘come on, I’ll show you something cool.’_

 

_As they walked through the house, passing by several of their drunken classmates, Louis couldn’t help but blush and unsuccessfully hold back a grin. He never expected to have a night quite so eventful — and just_ nice _. Harry was sweet and funny and interested in him like no guy ever was before._

 

_Finally, they arrived at the garage, which was apparently what Harry was so eager to show him. It was also almost as large as Louis’ house. It was ridiculous._

 

_Louis never really knew that much about cars, but even with his limited knowledge he could appreciate just how amazing these were. Well, more than appreciate, be slightly in awe._

 

_‘Wow, these are amazing,’ Louis said, ‘are their your dads?’_

 

_‘Yeah,’ Harry nodded, clearly pleased at the reaction, ‘but I’m gonna get my own as soon as I pass my driving test.’_

 

_‘Lucky,’ Louis said with a sigh, looking at the sports car with reverence, ‘I have to share with my mum until I save up enough for my own. I’d kill to have a car like this.’_

 

_‘How about we take it for a ride then?’ Harry asked, making Louis’ head snap up to meet his eyes. There he was, grinning mischievously, car keys already in hand. Louis had no clue when he even got them._

 

_‘What?’ he scoffed at the idea, ‘we can’t do that.’_

 

_‘Why not?’ Harry asked with a shrug, ‘It’s right here and I can drive. My cousin has been giving me some lessons.’_

 

_‘Harry, we really can’t, you’re drunk.’_

 

_‘I’m fine,’ Harry said, dragging out the word and rolling his eyes._

 

_‘How much have you had?’ Louis asked sternly, crossing his arms in front of his chest._

 

_‘Like, I don’y know, three drinks?’Harry said, but, getting only a frown from Louis in response, continued, ‘it’s not_ that _much. Relax.’_

 

_‘No, this is ridiculous, we can’t just—‘ Louis said, throwing his arms in the air helplessly. He didn’t even have any words! The wildest thing he had ever done was steal some costumes from school plays because he looked damn good in them — if he could say so himself._

 

_Harry frowned. This was clearly not the reaction he was expecting._

 

_‘Well,_ I’m _going,’ he said, making a show of opening the driver’s door and pausing there, ‘you can come along or not, your choice.’_

 

_Seeing Harry so determined, maybe irritated even, made Louis feel quite uneasy. He couldn’t let the boy leave in that state. He only had a moment to make up his mind and, reluctantly, he decided that he couldn’t just let Harry drive all alone. He figured that, if there was a need, maybe he could always take over the wheel or something. Sure, he had only_ just _passed his driving test himself, but it was with only one minor, which was pretty impressive. His whole family was impressed, actually. He wondered what they would think if they found out that he was just about to go on a very illegal ride in a very expensive, very beautiful car with a, maybe not_ very _but still quite a bit, drunk boy._

 

_He had a bad feeling in his stomach now. This was so stupid, he knew that, and yet, he couldn’t just leave Harry alone, right?_

 

_Maybe he should have._

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**SUNDAY:**

 

 

‘Can you do my back?’ Harry asked, making Louis look up and squint his eyes at him to see what he was talking about, and saw that Harry was in the process of lathering his arms up with a very generous amount of SPF50.

 

They had gotten to the beach just ten minutes earlier and, so far, Louis had been making quite a good effort at avoiding interacting with Harry all morning, because he hated how much he actually enjoyed spending time with him the night before, how easy it felt, but apparently he was forced into doing so now. 

 

Pushing himself up from his Manchester United beach towel, which had been his favourite ever since he got it for his eleventh birthday, he stood up next to Harry, extending his hand in front of him.

 

‘Give us it, then,’ he said, tapping his foot impatiently, making it out as if it was a great inconvenience for him to help Harry in such a minuscule way. Really, even though he didn’t want to admit it to himself, it was more out of nerves than annoyance that he was reluctant about it. It was this internal conflict that he had been feeling for the past two days between trying to keep himself as detached from Harry as possible, while, at the same time, _really_ wanting to be closer to him. 

 

And now he was going to be touching him, which he both really did and really didn’t want to do. 

 

Why did everything have to be so messed up?

 

‘Thanks,’ Harry smiled so brightly, that the sun had nothing on him.

 

Even though it was barely past eleven, it was already drowning everything surrounding them in it’s scorching heat, and _still_ Harry somehow managed to outshine it.

 

Louis hated it.

 

‘Yeah whatever,’ he said, taking the bottle from Harry’s hand, ‘turn around.’

 

Without wasting time, he squirted some of the lotion onto his hand lay his palms down on Harry’s shoulders. He started applying pressure and rubbing it all in with care. Harry’s skin was hot under his hands and he realised that he really didn’t mind all he physical contact. It was something about how responsive Harry was to his movements and when Harry let out a small sigh of pleasure, Louis figured that nope, that was definitely enough of _that_. He moved away as quickly as possible, thinking why rubbing suncream on Harry’s hot, hot back had to be so fucking sensual?

 

‘All done,’ he said as he moved away and went to lay back down on his beach towel.

 

‘Do you want me to do you?’

 

‘What?’

 

Harry shook the bottle of suncream that he still had in his hand as explanation.

 

‘Nah, thanks,’ Louis said, laying back down and resting his head his crossed arms, ‘I’m planning on getting a tan.’

 

Harry frowned.

 

‘Louis, you can’t just _not_ put suncream on. You’re gonna burn,’ he said with genuine concern.

 

‘No, I won’t. I never do.’ Louis answered lazily. He was actually getting quite cozy, laying there on his towel, the heat beginning to feel like a nicely tingling blanket.

 

‘Louis, it’s crazy hot, you _have_ to put some on,’ Harry said, ‘you do know that you can get skin cancer from the sun when you don’t use anything to protect yourself from it, right?’

 

‘Jesus, chill out,’ Louis snorted, ‘it’s not that big of a deal. I don’t want to put suncream on. Get over it.’

 

‘I _really_ think you should.’

 

‘Oh, yeah? Well, good thing that I don’t care,’ Louis said, getting irritated.

 

‘You’re such a child,’ Harry shook his head in disbelief, ‘You’re just being like this because you want to disagree with me.’

 

‘Listen, Curly, not everything is about you,’ Louis said bitterly.

 

‘You’re gonna get a sunburn and be twice as grumpy as you already are, and I’m gonna have to deal with it, so, yeah, it is a bit about me.’ Harry said, ‘just stop being stubborn and put some suncream on.’

 

‘Nah, I’m fine, _thanks_ ,’ Louis said with a fake, sarcastic smile.

 

Harry groaned, irritated.

 

‘You’re impossible!’ he exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air dramatically.

 

‘Calm down and read a poetry book or something,’ Louis said, rolling his eyes, ‘I’m done talking about this.’

 

‘ _Please_ ,’ Harry said and Louis looked up at him, seeing a pleading frown.

 

‘Why do you even care?’

 

‘Is it so wrong that I don’t want you to be all sunburnt and in pain and stuff?’ Harry asked.

 

‘I’m not gonna get burned,’ Louis said with conviction, ‘I told you already, I don’t get sunburnt.’

 

‘Yeah, yeah,’ Harry said unconvinced, ‘just like Niall says he never gets hungover and then you find him next morning with his head in the toiled bowl alternating between crying and vomiting, slobbery remains of food hanging off his lips because he can’t even be bothered to clean himself up. Yeah, right.’

 

‘I’m not gonna burn.’

 

‘You _are_ ,’ Harry replied, dragging out the word almost desperately.

 

‘Well, even if I do, it’s none of your business, pal,’ Louis said finitely, ‘so drop it and just let me enjoy the sun.’

 

‘But—‘

 

‘Shhh.’

 

Harry had shut up then, to Louis’ great pleasure. He sighed, this time with relief, loosening up as he closed his eyes and started drifting off into little daydreams.

 

Then something cold hit his burning back, making him jump.

 

‘What the fuck?’ he snapped, twisting around to find Harry kneeling next to him, bottle of suncream in one of his hands.

 

‘This is for your own good, Louis!’ he said, moving his other hand towards Louis’ back, but barely even managing to touch him, before the other recoiled.

 

‘What the fuck, mate, you can’t just do that!’ he said, expression incredulous.

 

‘Oh, come on, stop being so stubborn,’ Harry rolled his eyes, crawling closer towards him, ‘just let me rub the stuff onto your back. It won’t hurt you.’

 

‘I did not consent to this! This is assault!’ Louis shouted incredulously, shuffling further away from him.

 

‘Oh, come on! Stop being so dramatic,’ Harry started laughing now, following him, still on his knees.

 

‘No! Go away!’ Louis yelled, ‘I don’t need this greasy, sticky bullshit all over me!’

 

Harry grabbed hold of Louis’ forearm in his free hand, but the other instantly yanked his arm away, scrambling into a standing position. The quick movement made Harry fall backwards onto the sand, watching as Louis started to run, faster than he probably had in _months_. 

 

‘You’re not gonna get away that easily Tomlinson!’ Harry said, clumsily picking himself up from the ground before starting to chase him.

 

‘Watch me!’ Louis yelled, laughing and picking up pace.

 

‘For fucks sake,’ Harry half-grumbled, half-laughed as he too, against his leg muscles’ complaints, started sprinting faster. He was thanking god for his long, long legs, as the distance between the two started getting shorter.

 

Louis looked back for just a second, letting out a surprised yelp, when he noticed that Harry had almost caught up to him. He tried to dodge the boy, but, instead, he found himself suddenly on the ground, having been tackled by him.

 

Both of them let out a surprised, breathless grunt as Harry landed on top of Louis harshly. 

 

‘Ugh,’ Louis said, slightly strained, trying to wiggle out of their embrace, ‘get off me you twat.’

 

Harry was sprawled on top of Louis, holding his wrists down on either side of his head, and grinned triumphantly. 

 

‘Nope,’ he said with playful bossiness, ‘I caught you, you lost, so I get to put suncream on you and save your lovely soft skin, okay?’

 

‘I don’t remember making any such agreement,’ Louis replied instantly, squirming, ‘and _do_ get your lanky body off me. I’ve got sand stuck all over me because of you, you knob! This is exactly what I _didn’t_ want.’

 

‘Oh _come on_? You’re really gonna complain about a bit of sand being stuck to you? We’re on a bloody beach! And, I mean, it’s not as if there was a whole massive body if water right over there where you could wash it off, eh?’ 

 

‘Yeah, whatever,’ Louis snapped back, ‘you’re still a dickhead and I still want you to get off me, so do me a favour—‘

 

‘Oh, come on,’ Harry teased, ‘don’t pretend that you don’t like me the _tiniest_ bit.’

 

‘In your dreams’, Louis replied instantly, but he couldn’t help realising that his heartbeat had quickened, and not just from the running they had done. There was definitely a bit of truth to it, more than he would like to admit, but he couldn’t let himself feel like that. No. Definitely not.

 

‘Are you sure?’ Harry asked raising an eyebrow, his voice turning suggestively lower. He was obviously teasing him, joking. Except that they both knew he wasn’t.

 

The air between them turned intensely charged and Louis couldn’t get a single word to come out of his mouth. Oh, how he wished he could just say, ‘yeah, I _am_ sure. I hate you. One hundred percent. Simple as that.’ but he just _couldn’t_. 

 

‘Yeah,’ Louis said almost inaudibly, sounding the furthest from honest that he could possibly be, looking up at Harry nervously.

 

Harry could see his hesitation clear as day and his expression turned more serious, more intense. He let go of Louis’ wrist, instead using his free hand to run his fingers softly against Louis’ cheek, staring into his eyes almost reverently, with a warm, eager smile on his lips. 

 

Shit. He wasn’t going to? Was he?’ Louis wondered, his breath hitching in his throat.

 

But, yes, he was.

 

Harry was staring at his lips so blatantly, that there was obviously only one way that this situation could go. He brushed a couple of strands of Louis’ hair out of his face softly, before leaning in slowly, and Louis would be lying if a large part of him didn’t want to just give in and let himself be kissed.

 

But he just couldn’t.

 

_Harry Styles is a manipulative bastard. He is a liar and you can’t trust him_.

 

Louis snapped his head to the side, turning away from the kiss, causing Harry to bump into the side of his jaw awkwardly. The shorter boy pushed him away harshly, making Harry tumble off him, to his side, staring confusedly.

 

‘What the fuck do you think you’re doing?’ Louis asked bitterly, eyebrows knotting together.

 

‘Um,’ Harry hesitated, clearing his throat awkwardly, ‘sorry, I thought— I thought we were having a moment.’

 

‘We weren’t,’ Louis replied coldly, even though he knew that they most definitely _were_ — to his own dismay.

 

‘Oh,’ Harry said. There was a long pause when the boy just seemed to freeze, before he finally cleared his throat again, saying, ‘um, I’m just gonna, uh, go back to the hotel, yeah?’ and pushing himself up off the ground. 

 

He looked like a kicked puppy, as he stared down at his feet, waiting.

 

‘Right,’ Louis nodded, ‘I’m gonna go for a swim. The key’s in the inside pocket of my bag.’

 

Harry just nodded, turned around on his heel and walked away, head hung low. 

 

And it was all way too difficult, watching Harry like that, because he _was_ right. Louis wanted him so badly, and that infuriated him. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t fall for the guy. He wasn’t all naive and seventeen, getting attention from another boy for the first time. He couldn’t, and yet—

 

No.

 

_He is a liar and you can’t trust him_.

 

Louis repeated to himself and jogged over to the water, in the opposite direction to where Harry was heading, wishing that he could run away from his problems just as easily.

 

***

 

Harry hadn’t even noticed the stares he got while walking back to the hotel. It was like a strange sort of tunnel vision, where the only thing he saw was the ground a few steps in front of him and everything else was eaten up by this dark, overwhelming feeling of embarrassment and confusion that was hitting him from every side. How could he have gotten the whole thing _so_ wrong? He really thought—

 

Well, it must’ve all been nothing more than wishful thinking, he supposed. He thought things were changing, but apparently they weren’t. And it made him angry. So, so angry, that everything in sight was just merging into darkness.

 

He didn’t notice that he looked strange in any way, until he walked through the propped-open hotel door and, instantly, was dragged back to reality by a harsh, slightly panicked voice.

 

‘Oi, oi mate, what do you think you’re doing?’

 

Harry looked up, to see Zayn jumping out of his seat and rushing from behind the desk towards him, shaking his head and waving his hands around to signal for Harry to stop moving. Harry would never have imagined that the guy could even move so fast, if he wasn’t witnessing it right now. So, he just looked at the urgent look in Zayn’s eyes, slightly startled.

 

‘Where do you think you’re going like that?’ Zayn said, now in front of him, pushing him out of the building. Harry stumbled backwards, surprised, as Zayn led him outside. ‘Maria would have a heart attack if she saw you.’

 

Harry had never heard of any Maria, but the words finally made him look down at himself to find out what the fuss was about. He was still almost completely covered in sand that had stuck to him back at the beach. With every move, small amounts of it would sprinkle from his skin onto the ground.

 

‘Oh,’ Harry said, staring at his arms sadly. 

 

‘What is wrong with you?’ Zayn was still frowning, blocking the way into the hotel from Harry, ‘you look like you’ve completely lost it.’

 

Harry shrugged, his head dropping sadly.

 

‘Sorry, I didn’t even notice. See, me and Lou were— I guess, it we were having a bit of a misunderstanding and—‘

 

‘Nah, nah, mate,’ Zayn shook his head quickly, lifting his hands to stop him again, ‘you misunderstood. I wasn’t asking you about your precious feelings or all your, no doubt, _very_ important problems. I was asking you to sort yourself out and get all that sand off yourself before you walk into the hotel and get that shit all over everywhere.’

 

‘Oh, right,’ Harry said, running his hand through his hair awkwardly and letting out another sad sigh, ‘sorry.’

 

‘Yeah, whatever,’ Zayn mumbled in his usual, dismissive tone, ‘come here.’

 

Harry looked up at him questioningly, while Zayn took a step closer and started brushing the sand off of his shoulders harshly, slapping at Harry’s skin with excessive force. 

 

‘Ow,’ Harry yelped, retreating a step, ‘is this really necessary?’

 

‘I’m not letting you in like this.’ Zayn said harshly, meaning business.

 

‘Yeah, yeah,’ Harry nodded with a little, startled frown, ‘okay, just— no need to get so violent.’

 

‘Right,’ Zayn sighed, nodding, ‘give me your towel then, I’ll get all that crap off you.’

 

Harry nodded, digging his towel out of his bag and handing it to Zayn, who resumed to brush the sand off him, just more lightly this time. He did so in silence while Harry watched. It was weird.

 

‘Fine,’ Zayn sighed impatiently, glancing at Harry with a bored expression, ‘what happened? Where’s the other half?’

 

Harry snorted, ‘yeah, don’t call him that. He hates me. I really thought that things could get better and he could forgive me already, but _no_ apparently not.’

 

‘Right,’ Zayn rolled his eyes dismissively, looking back down at Harry’s sand-covered body, ‘you both hate each other, blah blah blah. I changed my mind. Don’t tell me about your pointless, bullshit problems. You two need to get over yourselves.’

 

Harry frowned, ‘excuse me?’

 

‘Sorry, don’t mean to patronise you,’ Zayn said in an extremely patronising tone, ‘but all your problems, yeah? They are absolute bullshit. Just sit down and talk with each other and get over it. No one else will do it for ya.’

 

‘It’s not that easy—‘

 

‘Mate, it _really_ is.’ Zayn said with a laugh, ‘like, I _really_ don’t want to get involved, I don’t, but it’s obvious you two are both into each other, so, whatever is stopping you two from hopping off into the sunset, holding hands, must be bullshit. So, talk, sort it out and then stay as far away from me as possible, please and thank you.’

 

‘But—‘

 

‘Shh,’ Zayn instantly interrupted, then shoved Harry’s towel into his chest, ‘you’re done. Now go away. I’m already way too involved in your shit for my liking.’

 

‘Oh—okay,’ Harry said, taking it confusedly. ‘Thanks?’

 

‘Yeah, whatever, just—‘ Zayn said, scrunching his face up uncomfortably, ‘sort it out, mate.’

 

‘Okay.’ Harry said, this time more confidently, nodding, ‘okay, you’re right. I will.’

 

‘Fantastic. Good for you.’ Zayn said flatly with a tight-lipped smile, then spun around and shuffled over back to his seat behind the desk lazily.

 

Harry was still a bit awe-struck by the whole exchange, because, what the hell? Did Zayn just— give him a pep-talk? How bizarre.

 

But he did have a point. Harry and Louis had to talk. It was time to move on already.

 

 

***

 

_February 1st, a year and a half ago…_

 

_Louis was sat there, glancing back and forth between Harry and the road in front of them. He was holding on to his seat nervously, while Harry grinned, clearly excited, thrilled even, seeming to drive with perfect ease. The roads were completely empty and almost all of the houses consumed by darkness, their inhabitants already having gone to sleep. For a moment, it seemed like everything was going to be fine. Sure, he felt on the verge of emptying the contents of his stomach, but for that moment, Louis thought that they might actually be okay. They might get away with it._

 

_He let himself relax for a second, maybe he had been over-reacting. Maybe Harry was right, they were just teenagers, they should be doing stupid things like this. Exciting things._

 

_He was in a £250,000 car, for fucks sake! He should be ecstatic!_

 

And _there was a cute boy next to him who_ liked _him._

 

_As if on cue, Harry looked into his eyes then, smiling sweetly._

 

_‘What do you think?’ he asked._

 

_‘It’s great Harry,’ Louis replied, unable to keep the fondness out of his voice. There was something about seeing Harry so happy, so excited about something, that made it impossible not to be excited along with him._

 

_‘Told ya!’ Harry giggled, looking back at the road._

 

_And then he frowned, eyes widening in panic._

 

_‘Shit.’ he said, ‘shit, shit, shit.’_

 

_Louis’ insides instantly fell as he snapped his head around to look at what Harry was seeing._

 

_There, parked on the side of the pavement, was a car, the reflective, blue and yellow checkered pattern on it’s side and the letters underneath it glowered, hit by Harry’s headlights._

 

**_POLICE_ **

 

_There was a dim light inside the car. Someone was in there and maybe they were on break or maybe they were waiting for something. But, whatever the reason was, it didn’t matter. They were there and Harry was clearly painfully aware of the fact, judging by the terror in his eyes._

 

_‘Harry,’ Louis said softly, keeping his voice calm, ‘you’re fine, you’re driving fine, just don’t panic and lets get out of here.’_

 

_But it was too late. Harry was panicking, breathing way too quickly, staring at the car that they were slowly getting closer to._

 

_‘Harry,’ Louis said with slightly more insistency, ‘just drive on, don’t worry.’_

 

_But Harry was starting to shake._

 

_‘He’s going to kill me, he’s going to kill me,’ Harry started repeating over and over between staggered breaths. And it was too late then. There was no way to calm him down now._

 

_‘Har—‘ Louis didn’t even get to finish the name, before Harry suddenly accelerated, swerving to the side, right into a parked car._

 

_A tense silence fell between them. It was as if they were suspended in time, just waiting for what came next._

 

_‘What am I— gonna— do? He’s— He’s gonna kill— me.’ Harry asked, out of breath and shaking, looking into Louis’ eyes desperately. Louis thought he must have been having some sort of panic attack. Or asthma attack. Or both. He didn’t know anything about that sort of thing. The fear in Harry’s eyes was just as contagious as his excitement was just minutes ago._

 

_Out of the corner of his eye, Louis could see the Police car light up. It’s headlights came on, along with the inside lights, before a man came out of it. He was just standing there, bent over the car, talking to someone else inside. He looked like he was in fits of laughter. Well, no wonder. He just saw someone crash into a parked car with a £250,000 Ferrari on an empty road. It was probably the stupidest thing he had ever seen in his life._

 

_‘He’s gonna kill me,’ Harry whimpered and that was it. Louis had to do something._

 

_‘Switch seats with me.’_

 

_‘What?’_

 

_‘Switch with me.’ Louis said decisively. ‘Now. While they are still distracted and taking their time.’_

 

_‘But—‘_

 

_‘Listen, you’ve been drinking, you don’t have a license— fuck, two hours ago you were too young to even have a license! Just switch with me.’_

 

_Harry was about to protest, but Louis was already undoing his seatbelt urgently, then doing the same with Harry’s, climbing over him. It was awkward and difficult and one second he was straddling him, then the next he was elbowing him in the ribs, and it was a mess of limbs struggling against each other in the small space of the sports car, but, just in time, they managed to switch seats, before the two policemen finally bothered to start walking over to them lazily._

 

_Louis took a long breath in, settling in the leather seat._

 

_‘We’re gonna be okay,’ he said, shutting his eyes tightly. His hand found Harry’s and squeezed it tightly, waiting._

 

***

 

Harry was sat on his bed in the hotel room, waiting. He was leaning his back against the wall behind him, looking down at his hands. Since getting back, he had already showered and rearranged all his stuff twice, and Louis was _still_ out. 

 

So, he was just stuck there in the silence of the stuffy room, waiting.

 

It seemed like forever before there was a knock on the door and Harry immediately jumped up, his heart already starting to pound nervously, as he went to open it.

 

And, yes, Louis was standing there, slouched, purposefully avoiding Harry’s eyes, as he pushed past him and into the room. Harry couldn’t help but be slightly endeared by how Louis’ hair was all messy and curly from the salt water. He looked like a sexy hobbit.

 

Louis dropped his bag on the floor by his bed, when Harry decided that he couldn’t put it off anymore.

 

‘We have to talk.’ he said, voice confident, decisive. He had rehearsed the line in his head for a couple hours now. ‘I think you have to forgive me already and we have to move past, well, the past.’

 

Louis scoffed, turning to face Harry.

 

‘It’s not that easy,’ he said bitterly. He crossed his arms over his chest and popped his hip out, standing there defensively.

 

‘But _why_? Why do you hate me so much, still? I’ve said sorry, I tried to, so many times!’ Harry whined, he couldn’t help it. He was planning to be all calm and collected and discuss things in a level-headed way, but he just _couldn’t_. He just wanted Louis to forgive him and, preferably, hop off into the sunset with him just like Zayn said. ‘If I could go back to that night and never get into that car, then I would, I really would! I’m so sorry about all the shit you’ve gone through because of me being a stupid show-off that one time, but surely it’s time to _move the fuck on_? Just forgive me already. _Please_.’

 

Yeah, he sounded desperate as hell. But he had to let it all out, it had been stuck inside him for over a year, after all.

 

‘Oh, fuck off.’ Louis rolled his eyes, ‘You know this isn’t about the _car.’_

 

Harry stared at him confusedly, his eyebrows knit tight together because, what? What does that even mean?

 

‘What do you mean it’s not about the car?’ he asked, completely thrown off course.

 

‘Stop acting dumb, you know what I mean.’

 

‘I’m not! I just don’t know what you mean.’ Harry said defensively, eyes pleading now, ‘I just want to understand what your problem is? I thought it was because you were angry at me for not fighting for you. For not defending you well enough. I should’ve fought my dad more and made him take back the charges and stuff but I was— I was scared. And you wouldn’t talk to me! I would’ve paid you back everything. I know you’ve gone through so much shit because of the whole thing, but I _did_ want to fix it. I’m sorry that I was too scared to try harder.’

 

‘It’s not about the car!’ Louis exclaimed impatiently, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, ‘It was my choice to get into that car with you and it was my choice to switch seats with you. I would’ve forgiven you the car. It’s _obviously_ not about the car.’

 

‘I don’t understand.’ Harry said, ‘Why then—‘

 

‘Don’t insult me.’ Louis said coldly.

 

‘I’m not trying to! That’s the last thing I want to do! I just want to understand what I did that made you hate me so much? I just don’t understand what I did? If it wasn’t the car thing?’

 

‘You lied to me!’ Louis shouted, it was like everything he was holding back exploded inside and started pouring out of him, ‘you said all those things to me about how great and brave I was, how much you liked me, you promised me dates and then— then you took it all back! How could you do that to a person? For what? For a _joke_? For your own sick idea of fun? Do you know how that made me feel about myself? It _ruined_ me.’

 

There were tears welling up in Louis’ eyes and he started to chew on the side of his thumb stressfully. He hadn’t really truly talked about it before.

 

‘I never lied to you.’ Harry said softly, still confused. None of what Louis was saying was making sense, ‘I meant all that. I still mean it. I think you’re great and brave and funny and kind and beautiful and— and I could go on for ages. It wasn’t a joke to me. I was serious when I said those things.’

 

Louis shook his head, ‘why are you still lying?’

 

‘I’m not lying!’ Harry said exasperatedly, ‘I meant all those things. I was devastated when you never spoke to me again!’

 

‘You told me not to! You said you didn’t want anything to do with me and that it was all a joke!’

 

‘No I didn’t? I never said that. Why would you think that?’

 

‘You told me not to talk to you when I tried to ask you how you were! When I texted you. I just wanted to know if you were okay and you just told me to fuck off!’

 

There was a moment of silence, while Harry took in what Louis was saying.

 

‘Louis, I never sent any texts that night.’ Harry said solemnly, ‘as soon as I got home, my dad had this huge fit. He took my phone, my laptop, all my games, my music — everything. He was furious, kept shouting “you think you can take _my_ stuff? How about I take yours?” I spent most of the night locked in the bathroom, hiding. I didn’t send any texts, Lou.’

 

‘But—‘ Louis stared at him, then shook his head, digging in the pocket of his shorts, ‘no, no. That’s not right. I have—‘ he dug out his phone, ‘I have them right here. I kept them. To remind myself. I—‘

 

Harry watched as Louis was staring at the screen with concentration, tapping and scrolling until he found what he was looking for. He handed the phone to him and Harry took it, looking down at the opened up messages app.

 

 

 

 

 

‘Shit,’ Harry said, reading the texts openmouthed, before turning to Louis with concern, ‘I would never, ever say anything like that. I promise you. I didn’t lie to you and I didn’t send these.’

 

‘Well, I thought it was you,’ Louis explained, ‘and then you didn’t show up at school for weeks and a part of me thought that it was because that’s how badly you didn’t want to see me. That that’s how revolting you found me or something.’

 

‘Shit, no, that’s not what happened,’ Harry said quickly, insistently, ‘I wanted to see you, I really did. Right away, as soon as they separated us that night, I wanted to see you. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t go anywhere. I— um—‘ he hesitated for a moment, looking uncomfortable, clearly not knowing whether he wanted to go on. But he did, ‘He— he hit me that night. For the first time. My arms were all covered in bruises where he just grabbed me and dragged me around the house, yelling, breaking my stuff. He sent me to my grandmother’s for a couple weeks until it was all gone, so that no one would see. And she didn’t care. She thought it was our issue to sort out.’

 

‘Fuck.’ Louis gasped at the information, absolutely shocked, ‘he did that to you?’

 

‘Yeah,’ Harry said quietly. He looked really self-conscious after admitting it and it broke Louis’ heart.

 

‘And he wrote those texts?

 

‘Looks like it. I really didn’t know, Louis. I’ve never seen them before.’

 

‘So, what you’re telling me, is that the only reason why I hated you for so long was not— it wasn’t you?’

 

‘Yeah.’

 

‘Shit.’

 

‘Yeah.’

 

‘I’m so sorry, Harry, I didn’t know.’

 

‘Well, obviously you didn’t,’ Harry shrugged, ‘and it’s not your fault. It was—‘

 

‘Don’t say it was yours,’ Louis said sternly, ‘don’t you dare. I mean, yeah you got us into that situation, but he shouldn’t have done any of that — not the texts, not breaking your stuff, not _hurting you_ ,’ and Louis really did feel disgusted even thinking about that, ‘like, no offence, but your dad is an absolute dick.’

 

‘More like homophobic, abusive scum, but yeah, believe me, I know and I agree.’ Harry said bitterly.

 

After a moment of silence, Louis bluntly added, ‘I hate your dad.’

 

‘Yeah, you’re not the only one,’ Harry actually chuckled, because suddenly things made sense and, now that they knew that, everything else seemed so extremely _stupid_.

 

‘I’m sorry, Harry.’ Louis said, eyebrows drawing together and eyes truly apologetic, ‘I’ve treated you like such shit and it wasn’t even your fault. You deserved none of it. I’m sorry.’

 

’It’s okay.’ Harry sighed, shrugging. He just wanted it all to be done with, ‘I forgive you. Can you forgive me too?’

 

‘There’s nothing to forgive,’ Louis said, then paused, frowning contemplatively to himself, before looking at Harry with a seriousness eyes, ‘literally. There’s nothing. All you’ve been was nice to me and I used to tell myself that you were just faking it, I kept repeating that you were a manipulative liar. But you aren’t? None of that was you. I _literally_ have nothing to hate you for.’ he said, completely struck by the realisation. Then, more characteristically for him, albeit still confused, added, ‘I mean, you _are_ a bit in love with yourself, but, to be honest, I don’t even blame ya.’

 

Harry laughed at his hilariously bewildered expression, ‘what?’

 

‘You’re really difficult to hate, Harry, is what I’m saying. Even with your cockiness sometimes, you’re actually pretty amazing.’

 

Harry brightened instantly.

 

‘Yeah?’

 

‘Yeah.’

 

‘So,’ Harry started, biting back an enormous smile, ‘so, just to make sure, are you saying that you _don’t_ hate me? Do you, per chance, maybe even _like_ me a bit?’

 

‘Yes, Harry!’ Louis exclaimed with a loud, self-depreciating laugh, ‘and, believe me, I was trying not to, but apparently you’re just irresistible or something. Is that what you want to hear? That you’re hot? And interesting? And cute? And gorgeous? Is that what you want me to say? Because, yeah, it’s true. And it’s annoying. Annoying! That’s another thing that you are. Irritating as hell and nonsensical and silly. But also lovely. God. It’s like in that movie! _Ten Things I Hate About You_? where she’s like, reading the poem and she’s listing all the things she hates about the guy and then she’s like, but the thing I hate the most is that I don’t hate you?’

 

‘ _But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you_

_Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all.’_  

 

Harry recited the line, because _of course_ he knew the line.

 

‘Yeah! That’s it.’ Louis nodded enthusiastically.

 

‘That’s a good film.’ Harry said with a smile.

 

‘Yeah.’

 

A contemplative silence fell between them. 

 

‘So that’s it, then. You don’t hate me.’ Harry finally said.

 

‘Not even a little bit, not even at all, apparently.’ Louis sighed with a laugh that just sounded _relieved_.

 

‘Well, i’m so happy to hear that.’ Harry smiled.

 

‘And we totally _were_ having a moment earlier, just so you know.’ Louis admitted unhappily.

 

‘I know.’ Harry smirked for a moment, before, more innocently, asking, ‘Lou?’

 

‘Yeah?’

 

‘So you like me?’ his eyes were wide and hopeful and Louis was absolutely charmed, just like the first time around.

 

‘Yeah.’ He sighed happily.

 

‘And I like you.’ Harry said, more confidently.

 

‘Yeah?’ Louis smiled, pleased at the confirmation.

 

‘So—‘ Harry dragged out the word.

 

‘So—‘ Louis echoed.

 

The whole room was suddenly heavy with anticipation, because neither of them actually had to ask ‘what now?’ The way they were now staring at each other, both on the same page after such a long time, was more than just longing, it was _need_. 

 

And Harry was looking at Louis’ lips, with his own parted slightly, before he looked up, and in a low, raspy voice, so different than the first time that he had asked that question, he said, ‘Can I kiss you?’

 

‘You better,’ Louis laughed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

**MONDAY**

 

 

‘Told you that switching off your phone was taking it a bit too far,’ Liam said, starting to bite his nails nervously as they walked back into the warm sunshine of Malia.

 

‘Hey, you thought it would be funny too, don’t put the whole blame on me now,’ Niall said defensively, even though, admittedly, he was the “mastermind” behind their little scheme. He just wanted to mess with his mates a bit and, hopefully, get them to sort out their problems, because he _really_ missed Harry ever since the pair of them started hating each other and he was forced to pick sides. 

 

He picked Louis back then and it _hurt_. He never truly found out what happened. They were supposed to end up together that night for god’s sake, not further apart. But, even though he had to put his friendship with Harry aside for over a year, when his friend appeared at his door with just a couple of bags and tears in his eyes, he did the only thing he could, the only thing he wanted, and took him right back in. He was reminded just how great of a mate Harry was then, and really, really needed for his other best mate to see that too. He _needed_ them to get along, so that he could have both of them as mates again.

 

Plus, he was convinced that the two were, like, meant to be together, but he was fine settling with them just being civil with each other, so they could all hang out again.

 

So, he decided that the most effective or, more honestly, just the most hilarious way to get them to get over their issues was to literally trap them together. The plan was to just leave them alone with each other for the weekend, before Niall and Liam finally arrived on Monday, making a dramatic entrance at the hotel and surprising them, preferably with water-guns. 

 

But, when they got there, they found out that their friends never even stayed there at all, and shit, the was _not_ part of the plan. Niall wasn’t _that_ malicious.

 

Thankfully, before they could break down in a complete panic, someone on the staff told them that they remembered Harry and Louis, and that the two had to find somewhere cheaper to stay. 

 

So, soon enough, they made it to the slightly rundown hotel.

 

‘Well this place is a bit of a shit hole,’ Liam said once the building was in view.

 

‘Shut up, don’t make me feel even more guilty,’ Niall whined, running his fingers through his blonde hair, ‘I can’t believe they were stuck here because of me. I’m such a dick.’

 

‘That you are,’ Liam said, holding back a chuckle as Niall turned to him with over-dramatic outrage in his expression.

 

‘You’re not supposed to _agree_ , you twat!’ he said, shaking his head, ‘I swear to god—‘

 

‘Yeah, yeah,’ Liam chuckled, ‘how about we find the guys first and then you can have your little freak out.’

 

‘Shit, I hope they’re in here.’ Niall said, starting to chew on the side of his thumb.

 

Reluctantly, the two made their way into the hotel. At the desk, much in the same manner as he always was, sat Zayn, book in hand and not a care in the world in his bored expression.

 

Niall cleared his throat to get his attention once they were at the desk. Zayn raised his eyes lazily, waiting.

 

‘Hi, we’re looking for two of our friends? They should’ve arrived here on Friday? I’m guessing they weren’t too happy either? Possibly arguing?’ everything Niall was saying was coming out as a question, the impatient, bored stare that was directed at him, making him rather nervous.

 

‘Ah, Curly and Grumpy, of course,’ Zayn rolled his eyes unenthusiastically. 

 

‘Sounds like them,’ Liam snickered.

 

‘Yeah, see, we wanted to play a little prank on them, because they sort of didn’t get along, but I think it got a bit out of hand,’ Niall explained.

 

‘I really don’t care,’ Zayn sighed, shaking his head, ‘what is it with you people and oversharing, I swear to god.’

 

‘Um, sorry, I guess?’ Niall said, rather flustered, ‘so, they’re here then?’

 

‘Nope.’

 

‘What do you mean ‘nope’? You just said you recognised them!’ Niall said and there was the slight panic again. Fuck, this day was stressful.

 

‘Yeah, but they just extended their stay another day and went off to the beach. They looked pretty chummy too, since we’re oversharing. Sounded like they were having plenty fun last night too. Pulled their beds together and everything, which really pissed of Maria — that’s our cleaner — because we have different rooms for couples because, you know, different sorts of stains’ he said beyond suggestively, ‘and these two _insisted_ they weren’t a couple—‘

 

‘Wait, what?’ Niall said, eyes wide and a massive grin spreading all over his face. It was like Christmas came early or something. ‘What are you saying?’

 

‘I’m saying that I had two people requesting to move rooms, because your two mates were making so much noise.’ 

 

‘NO WAY!’ Niall said, completely in awe at the information, ‘Oh my god. This is the best day of my life.’

 

‘That’s really depressing,’ Zayn said flatly, watching Niall’s cheerful outburst with an unimpressed look.

 

‘No, you don’t understand, I wanted the two to get along for _so long_ and now—‘ Niall sighed happily. He literally put his hands over his heart and sighed.

 

‘Listen, mate, unless you’re getting a room, I really don’t care about your life,’ Zayn said, ‘are you getting a room?’

 

‘Yeah! Sure! Why not?’ Niall grinned, slightly dazed still.

 

‘Um,’ Liam said, jumping into the conversation again and pulling Niall to the side, ‘because we already have a room booked somewhere else?’

 

‘Yeah, yeah, whatever,’ Niall rolled his eyes, ‘we can probably get enough of a refund to afford three times as many nights in this shit hole anyway,’ then he turned to Zayn with slightly startled eyes, ‘um, no offence mate.’

 

Zayn just rubbed at his eyes with his fingers, shaking his head.

 

‘Just make your mind up and stop bothering me,’ he said half-pleadingly.

 

Niall looked at Liam with wide, hopeful eyes.

 

‘Come on, it will be way more fun here.’ 

 

‘This is ridiculous! Absolutely mental.’ he said, looking at Niall as if he was deranged. However, after a moment, he sighed with a mixture of disapproval and defeat, ‘but since we’re already here and I’m exhausted beyond belief, okay. I swear, sometimes I feel like I’m the only sensible one out of us all.’

 

‘Don’t worry, Li,’ Niall said, throwing his arm around his friend’s shoulders with a laugh, ‘we forgive you for that major character flaw.’

 

‘Ha. Ha.’ Liam said flatly, then turned to Zayn, ‘Okay, give us a room then.’

 

‘I’ll get right on it,’ Zayn said, before taking the longest possible time digging out stuff from under the desk. He picked up the guest book and some forms, before, in an unenthusiastic, rehearsed voice, said, ‘Fill out this form. It’s €25 each, per night. Our card reader is broken, so you need to pay cash. There is a cash machine next to the shop down the road. And you better not be a couple in denial like the other two, because I can’t be bothered to deal with your problems and Maria can’t be bothered to deal with your cum-stained sheets. Enjoy your stay and whatever.’

 

‘You’re not the most pleasant of people, are ya?’ Niall asked, but his voice was amused, curious even.

 

‘Believe it or not, I actually get that a lot,’ Zayn said with a fake smile, ‘now fill out your forms and mind your own business.’

 

‘Okay, okay,’ Niall laughed, raising his hands in surrender, ‘I’m just curious.’

 

‘Ugh, you guys and all your questions,’ Zayn shook his head again, words drifting off as he leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes, ‘won’t leave a guy alone, I swear—‘

 

***

 

After a lot of pleading, Niall and Liam talked Zayn into giving them the spare key to Harry and Louis’ room, which he did more to shut them up and leave him alone than anything else, and a short search in the nearby shops, the two have also found some water-guns and, just as they had originally intended, waited for their their mates to come back and ambush them.

 

Louis and Harry barely got the chance to walk into their room.

 

‘Heard you guys needed some cooling off after last night!’ Niall laughed, jumping out from where he was hidden behind the beds.

 

After a lot of tackling and swearing — and a run in with a particularly displeased Maria, who informed them that she refused to clean their room from now on — they finally settled down and went out for another XXXL-sized pizza.

 

And the trip really was looking up. Harry agreed to go out again, in fact, he did so happily, as long as it meant spending the whole entire night in Louis’ arms. Of course, being able to afford drinks that _weren’t_ the cheapest wine known to man was also a plus. Niall really was like a leprechaun with a pot of gold, finally bringing the both of them the rest of their money.

 

However, to Zayn’s dismay, without the two as his wingmen, Niall wasn’t doing so well on the ‘charming the ladies’ front, and ended up stumbling back into the hotel just after 1am, alone, very emotively complaining about his defeat and accidentally slipping out a ‘none of them were as pretty as you anyway,’ while holding onto Zayn that little bit too tight, while the guy tried to help him get back to his room.

 

‘You guys are making my life a nightmare,’ he grumbled, struggling under Niall’s weight.

 

‘Shhhh,’ Niall replied, pressing his index finger to Zayn’s lips, ‘people who look like you, shouldn’t frown like that. Be happy, my dear. Be happy.’

 

It was a bizarre night and looked like it was going to continue into an equally bizarre, albeit fun week. Turns out, sometimes, things going differently than expected can be a good thing.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope that was all right! Please do leave a comment if you liked it :) x


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